


Paladins

by AlexandriaLives



Series: Paladins find their way [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-08
Updated: 2017-01-15
Packaged: 2018-08-29 19:43:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 15
Words: 37,920
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8502910
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlexandriaLives/pseuds/AlexandriaLives
Summary: After being tossed out the wormhole, what happens next is anyone's guess.One paladin risked everything for his team.One paladin becomes a leader.One paladin changes to become what the team needs.One paladin will hold the team together the best he can.One paladin is yet to be found.





	1. Courage

**Author's Note:**

> Changes to Red.

Blue spiraled out of the wormhole and Lance noticed he could only hear Hunk's voice. They were both screaming and spinning. Therefore, Lance, the calmer of the two focused his blue eyes on his display and pulled Blue out of a nosedive. "Hunk, buddy, calm down." The screaming stopped so he let go the breath he was holding. "Send me your coordinates and I will be there."

Nervousness echoed in the yellow paladin, "Where is everyone?"

"Not sure, but let's focus on sticking together." He flicked a few buttons on his panel and he saw his distress single come to life. He was sure the Castle would be looking for the mighty paladins. As Hunk's location appeared, Lance relaxed slightly. "Okay Blue, do you see anyone else? Shiro, Keith, the castle, Pidge?" He ran a hand over his head and pushed away the feeling something bad had happened. No signal, but he would not give up hope. "Hunk, on my way. Is your lion okay?"

"Yes, Yellow's fine, but my stomach's not." Hunk made Yellow steer toward Blue's last known location. Once the undamaged Blue lion came into view, Hunk sighed. "You are a sight for sore eyes."

"Your lion looks great Hunk only minor damage,” made both paladins smile. "Let's work on checking our location." Lance learned at the Garrison to focus on one task at a time. They had to assess their lions, determine their location, find a way to get to the castle and make sure the others made it back. He knew worrying about everything would only cause them to accomplish nothing.

About a mile below the floating lions was a layer of ice, which acted as the surface of the moon. From first glance, the surface was too cold and dark to be of any use.

Yellow displayed their current location and Hunk thought for a second he died. How could they be so lucky? "Ah, Lance? Am I reading our location correctly?" If it was a malfunction, Blue would state different coordinates.

As he took a deep breath, Lance checked again. "It depends, are we 5 seconds from home?" Briefly, he wondered what the team will think when he tells them.

"Kerberos? There is no way we are above Kerberos, right?"

Silence lingered between them as they both tried to reason what action they should take next. Do they visit home or keep looking for the castle?

A young man, slightly older than the paladins, appeared on screen. His blond hair cut short like a military officer, but his baby face was to be non-threating. "Greeting lions. My name is Carter. I am here to greet you."

For the second time today, Lance ran his hand over his face to clear his thoughts. 'Vague, but honest.' At this moment, Lance wished he did not have to interact with an Earth representative. ‘How long until they realize we are wanted criminals for freeing Shiro?’ 

Lance conjured a smile and opened a channel to respond. "Carter, my name is Lance and my friend in the Yellow lion is Hunk. Ah, it was not our intention to startle you for that we are sorry. We will be leaving very shortly."

For a split second, Carter's smile faltered. "Where are you from?"

Before Lance could stop him, Hunk blurted out “Earth”.

Carter's eyes narrowed in confusion and after a second, his eyebrows hardened in concentration. He turned his head as whispered, "Commander Iverson, I think you should talk to these two lion pilots."

"Oh, Quiznits," the paladins said in unison.

When Iverson image came into focus, Lance wondered if they should run. After all, the Garrison and Iverson was never a fan of his.

"McClain, Garrett, I should have known," as a familiar yet annoyed voice spoke. In a flash, the screen changed to Iverson, but his emotions closed off. "Where is the rest of your team?"

A mental debate about how much to tell Iverson ended when Blue suddenly stopped working and Lance had to hold on tight as he crashed. 'Yeah, great day.'

Of course, Blue landing, more like failing, unceremoniously on the ground caused panic of monumental measure all around the lions. However, all Lance could manage was a weak moan. 'Blue, answer me.' Anger washed over him like a suit and he wondered if the universe hated him. He could see Blue still had power, but for whatever reason she stopped talking with him. "Answer me!" His words were less concerned and he sounded angrier than he expected.

Lance's communications were down, but Hunk could tell his distress signal was still active. He carefully landed his lion as a new video feed came online.

Allura wanted to convey confidence in her words, but it was not in her. "Lance, are you there? Lance, do you hear me? We are on our way."

"Allura, its Hunk. I hear you and I am with Lance. Ah, he is busy at the moment. Are the others with you?"

From the crestfallen expression on the Princess' face, the answer was no. “Hunk, we will be there in a few ticks. We are getting weird reading from Blue. Is Yellow okay?”

“Oh, I thought Lance meant to land/fall. Weird. Allura, you should know we are in contact with the people from Earth, our home planet, and they are not happy about us showing up. Maybe, you should hang back until we can talk to Iverson or at least calm him down.”

Determination hardened on Allura’s face as she spoke swiftly. “We will be there in a few ticks and they better not hurt either of you or your lions.” 

Her head turned to the left to talk to Coran, but the words were soft and alien. As she turned back, she sighed. “Hunk, please land next to Lance. Once we land, I wish to speak to this Iverson.”

 

When Castleship landed between the Yellow and Blue lions, their paladin never turned around. As the two Altean survivors approached the arguing paladins, Allura took one last deep breath. “Paladins, please calm down.” She could see a small crowd forming just beyond the lions and hoped she could deal with the paladins in private.

‘Breath, in, out.’ After years of training with her father, Allura felt unprepared to face her next challenge. Her paladins would not be happy with her past mistakes, but their current situation left her feeling sick. Hunk tried to warn her of Lance’s rage, but she knew to expect it.

Anger rolled off him as he yelled. “Calm down! Calm Down! How am I to calm down? Blue has power, but stopped talking to me! I fell out of the sky!” A face full of anger, Lance turned back to the lion. “What is happening?”

Clearing his throat, an older man stepped forward from the small group that had gathered. “I am Commander Iverson.” For a brief second, he scans the strangers. “I am in charge of the Galaxy Garrison. We are the protectors of Earth.”

“I am Princess Allura and this is Coran.” Hoping she sound confident, she continued. “I am here for my paladins and their lions.”

His smirk was anything but playful. “Why do you need such weapons? Are you planning for war?”

A growl erupted from Lance as he spun to face Iverson. “You want to know why we have weapons, why do you? Oh, I don’t know. Maybe because there is an evil alien race kidnapping, killing, torturing, and destroying everything good and decent in the universe. Why don’t you ask Shiro, or the Holts. Oh yeah, that right, they are dead according to you!”

Stepping between Lance and Iverson, Allura lowered her voice. “Lance, please try to take some deep breaths. I know this is hard, but your connection with Blue is effecting your judgement.” Gently, she placed her hand on his right arm and she could feel him relaxing.

Defeat replaced anger in his tone, “I can’t hear Blue. Something is terribly wrong.” Lance felt Allura pull away, but he didn’t care.

Static over the coms shattered the tension. Then, a broken word. “hear...”

Hunk raced into the Castle toward the bridge, yelling into his helmet as he moved. “Keith, is that you? Are you okay?”

With one shared glance, Coran and Allura switched positions. She bowed slightly to Coran and then followed Hunk into the ship. 

“Can... hear…” After a few moments, the signal became stronger. “Hunk, can you hear me? Are you near the castle?”

Now it was Coran’s turn to place his hand on Lance’s arm. “We spotted the Black and Red lion together. We decided to come get you two first. Allura will bring them home.”

A flash of swirling light appeared in the sky making the other humans step back. Lance could only manage a chuckle at their faces causing him to remember the last time he flew past Kerberos. The team yelled at him as he flew Blue. ‘Pidge will not let me live it down when she finds out I crashed here. This isn’t a simulator man.’ “Did you locate Pidge?”

Once the Black lion came out of the wormhole with the Red lion hanging out of his mouth, all thoughts ceased. The Black lion showed minimal damage, but the weight of carrying both lions put stress on her systems. 

A battle raged within Lance as anger and stress wash over him causing him to glance back and forth between Red and Blue. Lance took one last look at Blue to say a silent thank you. “Keith, if you can hear me, you can do this. Release Red in front of the castle right before she would touch down. Next, shift Black to be on her left and out of the way.”

A strain in Keith’s voice echoed in his words. “Lance, I’m sorry, but I won’t be gentle.”

“We understand,” was the only thing Lance could say to Keith. 

True to his word, Keith gently released Red in front of the castle, but that also put Red directly in front of Lance. He landed Black and exhaled loud. Black purred to his new paladin that he was not alone. At first, Keith took it to mean Black had him. Then, Keith realized Black meant Lance. Keith rose from his seat and whispered, “I’ll be back.” Keith took the low comfort growl as I know.

Red and Lance glared at one another. It was unclear when Coran stepped back off or when Allura and Hunk arrived. All Lance focused on was Red. It was a battle of will and Lance hated to lose. Both lion and paladin sensed Keith arrival, but neither spoke to him.

When Red told Lance to go back to Blue, Lance lost his temper.

“WHAT? You think this is EASY for me? That I wanted THIS? NO! You can sulk all you want, but we have a job to do!” 

He could feel his body shake with rage, so he advanced closer. “I’m sorry you’re hurt, but taking it out on me won’t help you.” 

Swiftly he stood at her feet, stared right in her eyes, and growled, “open up.” 

It was then and only then, he felt her pain from her intense battle. Every slice, every cut revealed to him, her soul lay bare. Most importantly, sorrow filled her for not killing Zarkon, not stopping Shiro from leaving, losing Keith, and not letting Lance stay with Blue.

For a brief moment, his mind wondered to the missing paladins. Lowering his voice, he spoke from the heart. “I can help you feel whole again.” 

Instinctually, his hand touched Red’s paw and she felt his torment over this entire journey. “We can work on this together, please let me in, beautiful.” 

Red opened her ramp, which caused the new red paladin to smile. His soothing tone made her purr, “Thank you, Red.” As he took each step, Red became a bigger piece of him. 

They were searching the other for expectations, and then she reminded him that she only takes the best pilot. “Now you’re using sweet-talk, I like that Red.” When her panel came alive, his smile brightened. Blue was warm and fun, but Red was dangerous and fast. He loved Blue, but it was time to let her go, because Red needed him more.

Outside the Red lion, Commander Iverson purposely moved between Keith and Allura. “It appears you are in need of help. Maybe we should discuss how we can help each other.”

 

Twenty-four hours later, Keith, Lance, Hunk, Coran and Allura stood on the med bay in a semi-circle around the center consol. 

Keith rubbed his chin for the hundredth time before he spoke. “Are we sure about this? If we agree, we will have more support, but that also means we will have Iverson here in the castle.”

Sighing at the thought of Iverson on this ship full time, Lance wondered if Shiro would have wanted this. “Keith, you are the Black paladin. We will follow you.”

“Lance, I don’t want you to just accept my decision, we are a team. Do you think we should agree?” Keith focused on Lance’s face, after studying his face he continued. “I do not know him as well as you.”

Hunk spoke first, “I say yes, but Pidge will not be happy. She never liked him, right Lance?”

“He lied about her family, made her miserable and she wanted to kill him every time he mentioned Kerberos. Now, Shiro went back to the Galra to protect us. Her brother, and father are still missing and she will have to trust him with our lives. My gut tells me, she would not agree to this, even if it is the right thing to do.” Running his hand over his hair, he smirks. “We can’t reveal her identity to anyone; we should talk to her first.”

The question lingered in the air for a moment before Allura spoke. “I have found no trace of the Green lion or Pidge. When we first exited the wormhole, I saw all five lion’s locations. Pidge was the worst and it kept bouncing around not giving an accurate signal. At the very least, she should be back online in a couple of hours.” 

Twisting his mustache, Coran sounded confident and positive. “She is resourceful and will be back before we know it. Currently, Pidge, Allura, and Lance are against, but Hunk agrees. Ultimately Keith, it is up to you.”

Watching Lance carefully, Keith knew Lance would have plan even if he never put it to action. “Actually, Lance never gave a response. The score is Hunk and I agree, but Pidge and Allura disagree. What are you thinking Lance? What angle did we miss?”

“If Shiro were here, he would not like it, but he would agree as well. We need support when on missions. After all, we might not have needed them if we were not in this situation, but we are. We need to make sure the decisions are in our interest and not just Earth.”

Keith put his hand on Lance’s shoulder. “It sounds bad, but the Paladin code, stopping Zarkon are all important. Still, not at the cost of the Holts or Shiro or any other groups we come across. Will Iverson really let us do this our way? I believe only time will tell. Allura, try to get a little rest, but let us know if you find anything on Pidge. Lance, how about the two of us take a walk?” Keith smiled when Lance shook his head yes.

Allura nodded to her paladins, then turned and went back to work. Coran followed.

While he struggled to sound confident, Hunk fidgeted with his hands. “We will let you know when anything changes.”

As Lance moved to pass Keith, the new Black paladin blocks his path. “We will find her and she may not like our decision, but once she knows what happened she might surprise you.”

“I have a feeling we have not seen the worst yet. Something is happening and we can’t… something is off and I am not talking about the lions. Prepare for the worst, hope for the best.” Lance turned and left.

Hunk shook his head as he grabbed Keith’s shoulder. “Lance is never wrong about these things. I just hope that Pidge is okay.” A few seconds later when Keith did not move, Hunk added. “You should follow him.”

Keith turned and spun down the hall in Lance’s direction. “Wait.”

Stopping immediately, Lance kept his hands at his side to keep his temper in check. “I so get it.” Subconsciously, Lance counted to ten. 

“What?”

The two faced each other for the first time since they left to get Allura. “Why, you use to spend hours on the training deck. I use to be so calm.” He ran his right hand over his neck for a second. Then, he dropped his hand to his side in defeat.

“You will be again. It takes time to calm your mind. Patience yields focus.”

“Wow, you really do sound like Shiro.” When he saw Keith flinch, Lance reconsidered his next statement. “You can do this Keith. Shiro would not have left you in charge if he didn’t trust you.”

This time, Keith extended his arm and gently pushed Lance. “I thought you would want to be Shiro’s replacement. You want to be the best, at least better than me.”

The sour mood disappeared as Lance chuckled. “I don’t want Shiro’s job. I’m not sure I want yours. I want to be good at my job so that one day I can return home and make my family proud. Picking on you is an added bonus.” 

“In that case, how about we go spar and I prove that I’m the best?”


	2. Strength

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What will Black, Red and Yellow get themselves into now?

Pain radiated from Keith’s chest as he woke. Weakly, Keith heard Shiro calling his name. Something about the tone of Shiro’s voice felt wrong, it was off somehow. The Red lion was not responding, but Keith’s mind felt hazy from the landing. ‘Did I land? Am I dead?’ His head hurt too much for him to believe he was in the afterlife. "Shiro," he weakly called out.

A muffled sound of people talking made no sense, but they did not sound like Shiro. They sounded like they were under water. Someone was tapping on a metal surface and another yelled.

Raising his head, Keith glances around for signs of life from Red, but Keith could see nothing. The world was one big blur. Then, he remembered the battle with Zarkon and wondered if Red was mad at him. "Red, what’s wrong?”

Again, a muffled voice called his name, but it was not Shiro. “Keith.” Another round of tapping to his left made Keith’s head hurt and then footsteps headed away from the person talking. “Keith.”

After everything went silent, Keith thought about being alone. Isolation was the worst word in history. In an instant, Keith felt someone shake his shoulder. ‘This was wrong, he was alone. Wasn’t he?’ Rolling his head to the left, Keith tried to open his eyes. “Shiro? Don’t go. Shiro! Don’t leave.” 

“Keith! Snap out of it. You are not alone buddy, but I need you to wake up.”

A memory flashed in Keith’s mind of Lance talking with Pidge about something stupid. Both paladins bickering, but neither took offence. The voice was calm yet forceful, just like when Lance. ‘Was that voice Lance? But Pidge is still missing.’ Then, he heard more movement to his left. 

“Keith, are you awake? Can you hear me? Hey buddy, you can wake up now.”

Keith had to be in bad shape if Lance was nice to him. ‘Wait.’ Shiro left to protect the lions. Lance is the Red paladin and Keith was the Black paladin. Keith could feel Black calling him. Shiro was right; Keith saw a change in Lance and himself. “Lance? We’re on a Galra ship?”

“Finally, yes.” Lance gently pulled Keith into a seated position. “Keith, are you okay?” Stress drained from his face as he watched Keith, Lance exhaled softly. “For a moment, you had me worried.”

“Would be nice to have a Bayard. What’s the plan?”

For an instant, blue eyes clashed with violet, Lance knew his friend was fine. “Well, we are here with the small team from the Garrison on a recon mission. We heard rumors about…”

“The Green lion and it’s paladin.” Violet eyes sprang back to life as the memories flew back to Keith. “Did we get the information from the computer?”

Lance let out a sigh, which implied no, “what we need is a certain green paladin. About that, Pidge does not get paid enough.” When Keith pinched his nose with his right hand, Lance continued. “This is where you say, none of us get paid.”

A laugh erupted from Keith before he could stop himself and he only became louder when he saw the shock on Lance. “Stop… looking… at me… like that.”

Lance reached out and put his arm on Keith’s forehead. “Just checking.” A genuine smile graced his lips before he chuckled.

Approaching footsteps made both paladins freeze immediately, the laughter forgotten. “Are you two always this loud?”

Rolling his eyes at the new comer, Lance is unfazed by the joke. “No, Carter. Keith was shot in the back and hit his head when he fell. He is fine by the way. Did you find the room? Where is Hunk?”

Glancing over his shoulder, Carter lowers his voice. “We found a room around the bend and Hunk took data. He said he could not find the other paladin, but this vessel is carrying a prisoner. Apparently, the prisoner pissed off Zarkon so bad they scheduled his execution once the ship reaches its destination. Only, Hunk can’t figure out the location of where they are holding him.”

An alarm went off, flashing red on the walls. Then, Hunk came barreling down the hall with two Garrison soldiers with him. “Time to go!”

Gunfire poured into the hallway as the Lance helped Keith up. At that moment, the group worked at firing and moving in a well-orchestrated team. Lance and Keith shared a look that meant Shiro would be proud. 

Once the team reached the final room, the Galra stopped firing at them. They headed for the opening in the wall on the far right, which led to their escape. However, the sound of someone yelling caused the paladins freeze in place. 

Rubbing the sore spot on his head, Keith heard a familiar sound. “Do you hear that? Do you think we found the prisoner?”

Before anyone could answer, a male voice rang out. “You will never win. Voltron will stop you! Kill me if you want, you will not win!” Explosions rocked the ship causing the three paladins slide next to the door on the right, and the three Garrison officers slide to the exit.

Lance pushed open the door to evaluate the situation. A Galra soldier was to his left and a young human about Lance’s age stood on the right. Something familiar tugged at the back of Lance’s mind for a second.

A Galra soldier shouted, “Now you will die thief.” 

Lance threw his body in front of the prisoner, forcing them both to tumble to the ground as the Galra opened fire. The tumbled caused them to land behind a table next to the far wall. Blocking the prisoner’s body with his own, Lance smirked at the young man’s face. “Keep your head down.” 

Moments later, Hunk opened fire on the Galra causing the gunman to turn toward the Yellow paladin. When the soldier collapsed to the floor and the gunfire stopped, Hunk rushed to Lance’s side.

Keith helped up Lance and the young man. Yelling to the others, Keith held onto the prisoner as the made it through the door. “We got to go.” Scanning the young man, Keith noticed the fresh blood on his shirt. “Stay close to me. How bad were you hurt?” The confusion on the young man made Keith think through his words. The minute his words sunk in, Keith realized his mistake. “Hunk, get Lance out of here.”

One of the Garrison soldiers grabbed the prisoner’s other arm, one helped Hunk with Lance and the last one kept a look out for more trouble. The group made it back to the small ship as Carter took the helm. “Hey guys sit tight we will be back in a flash. Iverson and Allura, we are bringing home a guest, but it is not the original package.”

Allura’s sad tone echoed through the rescue ship. “We understand, we will be waiting for you. Opening the wormhole now.”

Hunk sat down next to the door and kept Lance next to him. Concern filled the yellow paladin’s face as he inspected Lance. Keith sat between Lance and their new guest and Keith’s eyes also focused on Lance. 

The Garrison soldier came to the same conclusion that Keith first did and grabbed their new guest shirt causing him to jump. “For the last time, the blood on my shirt is not mine. It was my human shield. What did you call him, Lance?”

The paladin in question gazed at the freed prisoner as the wormhole opened. “Pidge will be so happy. I can’t wait for when Pidge sees you, it will be memorable. Even though Shiro is missing…”

Yelling as he moved, the new guest sat right next to Lance. “You know Shiro? How? Where is he?” His hands shook as his eyes bore into Lance. Stress and fatigue threaten to consume the newcomer. “How do you know Shiro?”

The ship jerked as it moved through the wormhole and out the other side. Blue eyes clashed with amber as Carter announced their arrival at the castle.

“Please, is Shiro okay?” 

Sadness entered Lance’s eyes as quickly as they disappeared, but it remained in his tone. “He was, but he had to leave. He will be back when he can.” His smile reappeared as his tone changed to hopeful. “Pidge will want to see you.” Leaning closer, Lance kept his voice low so only the new guest and Keith could hear him. “Stay safe Matt, Pidge will never forgive us if we let anything happen to you.”

Instantly, the doors opened and more soldiers came through, making Keith rise between the two. “Both of them need medical attention now. Carter let Coran know we are coming. Hunk, help Lance and I’ll help our guest.” 

Focused on Matt, Keith kept his voice low reminding him of Shiro. “Lance will be okay.” Gently wrapping his arm around Matt, Keith saw the nervous look in the boy. Keeping his voice barely above a whisper, he spoke. “Are you Matt Holt?” He felt his new guest stiffen at the sound of his name.

“Yes.” His amber eyes focused on Lance. “Pidge is important to him. Is Pidge his boyfriend?”

“No.” It was clear now was not the time to tell all, but Keith hated keeping secrets. “Lance is the red paladin and Pidge, who is missing, is the green paladin. I’m Keith the black paladin and the guy next to Lance is Hunk is the yellow paladin.” 

The small group made their way to healing pods, but it was clear Matt felt uncomfortable around soldiers. Lance did not make it easy because he kept talking about how everything will be fine once Pidge saw their guest.

“I’m sorry Lance is making you uncomfortable. He is worried about our friend.” When they stepped into their makeshift hospital, Keith found Matt had stopped walking. “It is okay, no one will hurt you here. This room has pods to aid in the healing process. It is safe, I promise.”

Allura emerged from behind them and moved over to Lance and Hunk. “Hunk, why is their blood on your shirt? What happened?” 

Coran rushed over an attended to Lance who now sat on the table near the cryo pods. Pulling up Lance’s shirt, Coran winced at the sight of the paladin. “Allura, ready the pod. Lance needs to go in now.”

At his sharp tone, the room stared at Lance. “I won’t. He has to go in first.” His breathing labored from his injured chest so he pointed at Matt.

Desperate to get his friend in the pod, Hunk grabbed Lance’s arm. “We will get him in a pod after you.”

Keith forced Matt to move into the room towards Lance’s position. “Pidge would want us to protect Matt first. Come on Matt, in you go. Lance will follow and when both of you wake up, we will have a long talk about how we will find Pidge.” Keith expected Matt to pull away. After all, Pidge would have, at the thought of, an injured Lance waiting to heal because of her. 

Amber eyes stare at the pods for a minute, and then turned on Keith. “No. I will not.” His face-hardened as he found his courage to stared down Keith. “Thank you for saving me, but I am not going in that pod.” 

Lance leaned back and laughed until it turned into a coughing fit. When he stopped, he smiled at Matt. “I’ll make you a deal. You go into the pod and I will go in after. When we both get out, I will owe you one favor. Deal?”

First, Matt scanned the room and calculated his options. Next, he focused on each paladin starting with Keith and ending with Hunk. Lastly, he noticed Iverson in the doorway staring at him. “You go first and you have a deal. I need to see how this works before I can go in there.”

Lance felt his eyelids become heavy and then he mumbled ‘yes’ as sleepiness took over his body.

Quick like lightning, Coran caught Lance as he slumped forward. Coran shifted the paladin into his arms and moved over to the first pod. Allura shifted the pod to lay flat like a table to aid Coran in getting Lance in quickly. Once Lance was in position, Coran returned to the control panel and went to work prepping the pod. The pod shifted Lance upright and closed over him.

Hunk moved next to Coran and quietly asked about his friend. 

Coran’s voice echoed within the silent room, “He needs about fourteen of your Earth hours. Better than last time, but we should have put him in without a debate.”

Politely grabbing Matt’s arm, Keith brought him closer to Coran. “Coran, please show Matt what you will do and explain what everything means.” Keith saw an argument coming from Iverson, Allura, Coran, and Hunk. Instantly, Keith knew how to handle them. “You see, Matt here was on the Kerberos mission with Shiro and his dad. He is very curious about how this process works and will not agree until he feels safe.”

Coran nodded in understanding before showing the screen to Matt. He carefully described the process the pod used to heal injury the occupant sustained.

“Why are you doing this? Why do you care about us and the Galra hate us?”

A smile so warm it could melt the sun came from Allura as she spoke to Matt. “The best one to answer your question would be our missing paladin. When Pidge returns, please ask your questions again.” She motioned for Matt to step inside the pod.

He frowned, but complied. He heard Coran say it would take seven hours for his process and someone would be waiting for him. “I hope your guy, Pidge, can live up to the propaganda.”

For the first time since Matt met Hunk, the yellow paladin chuckled. “Yes and so much more. I will be here when you wake.” Hunk smiled as the pod closed taking Matt to sleep.

Yelling as Matt went to sleep, Iverson directed his rage at Keith and Carter. “Someone care to explain what happened?”

Before anyone could respond, Keith rounded on Iverson. “We were ambushed when Hunk tried to get the files. Lance protected my back, but I got confused for a second. Meanwhile, Hunk and Carter found a place to download files and they realized the ship had only on prisoner, scheduled for execution.” He ignored the gasps and continued. “No one knew his identity or location. Alarms went off and we made for the exit. On our way out, we heard an argument.” Pointing to the pod, Keith knew to keep his eyes on Iverson. “Our guest picked a fight with an armed Galra soldier. He said something about Voltron fighting the Galra. Lance saw him and became a human shield to keep him from getting shot.”

Coran cleared his throat and shook his head no, which caused eyes to turn to him. “Matt was shot, which is why it will take so long for him to heal. It was clear he did not want to get into the pod, well, any more than a certain paladin. They are spirited.” 

Keith understood Coran meant Pidge as a certain paladin and not Lance. Keeping Iverson away from figuring out Pidge’s identity until she can tell her brother personally just became increasingly difficult. “When the shooting ended, we got out of there. On our way to the castle, Lance exposed Matt. Then, we came here.”

Iverson lowered his voice to Keith and Allura. “What do you know about the Holts?”

Allura smiled and if you did not know her, you would not see the coy intent. “Only things we learned from Shiro or stories the paladins heard. Would you not pick the best and brightest?”

“Yes.” Turning to his team, Iverson spotted his target. “Carter, we need to review what happened, so it doesn’t happen again.” Pointing to another of the team, he raised his voice. “Contact me with any changes.”

“Yes, sir.”

Iverson nodded to Allura and turned to leave. “Good day Princess and paladins. Please let us know how we can help."


	3. Support

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Supporting your friends, even if you doubt you are correct.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Supporting your friends, even if you doubt you are correct.

True to his word, Hunk waited outside Matt’s pod. His eyes glanced from Lance to Matt and back again. Waiting was slowly killing Hunk. So focused on his friends in the pods, Hunk missed the footsteps behind him.

Keith saw Hunk jumped when he spoke. “Do you know what we should say?” He chuckled at his friend. “Sorry. Didn’t mean to startle you.” For a moment, Keith wondered how to comfort Hunk. Normally, Lance or Hunk comforted people so Keith asked himself what would they do.

Hunk felt Keith’s hand on his shoulder and he willed himself not to cry. “I’m just jumpy.” Rubbing his hand on the back of his head, he continued. “What do you think we should tell him? My instinct tells me to wait for Pidge, but almost two weeks have passed with no word. The reports from the Galra state the Green paladin fought a battle against them and disappeared. They are searching for the green lion, but they do not mention the paladin. Keith, I’m worried. It is bad enough Shiro left, but losing Pidge…”

With a gentle squeeze, Keith let go of Hunk. “The Galra underestimate Pidge, we can’t.” Keith relocated in front of Lance’s pod and checked the remaining time. “Seven hours. Scary part, it is not his record.” Keith’s thoughts drifted to Lance in the pod after the explosion and Pidge threating to leave. Pidge stayed and proved her importance. Rage of a new kind radiated in Keith’s tone. “Besides, if something happens to Pidge and Green returns alone, Matt will not be alone tearing this universe apart. The three of us will…”

The door to the room opened with Iverson and Carter walking inside the room. “Carter, please review the rest of the team and remind them of their duty.” Carter spun around and left, but Iverson marched right over to Keith. “How are the patients?”

Nervously glancing between Iverson and Keith, Hunk’s uncomfortable tone echoed in the large room. “Well, um, Commander, Matt is about to come out and Lance…”

Keith smiled and nodded making Hunk comfortable. “Hunk, it’s okay. Sir, Matt will come out in a minute or so, but Lance has seven hours.”

“Hunk, you do not report to me, you have no need to be nervous. We are here to support your team. In exchange, we will protect Earth.” Iverson turned to Keith, his tone sincere. “If you repeat this, I will deny everything. Commander Holt was a friend of mine and I know it does not help, but my orders were to lie to everyone about their disappearance. I was not my finest moment, but Earth was not ready to fight hostile aliens. No one from Earth knew what to expect or how to fight back.” 

Exhaling loudly, Hunk let himself relax. “None of us were ready to meet aliens. Well, I take that back, out of all of us, I’m sure Pidge wanted too.”

After a deep breath, Iverson moved next to Lance’s pod. Scanning the pod for any dangerous signs, Iverson turned back to Hunk. “Did you find anything in the data we stole? Or any word on Gunterson?”

The pod, which housed Matt, opened and the young man fell out. Expecting to hit the floor, Matt found Keith held him up. Straightening his back and pulling away slightly, Matt smiled at Keith. “Thank you.”

After a moment of silence, Hunk took the pressure off Keith. “We can let you clean up. Then, grab a bite to eat. We will get you a settled in a room and then give you a tour. We can let you rest up some. I will make sure I come get you closer to when Lance will wake up.” 

Tired, but happy Matt smiled at Hunk. “A shower would be nice, thank you.” His face turned to Iverson, but his face was unreadable. “Does my family know where I am or what I went through?” Iverson’s hardened expression told Matt all he needed to know. “My mom probably believed whatever lie you told her. My sister is a different story.”

Motioning toward the door, Keith felt relief when Matt nodded. It was hard keeping Pidge’s secret and he knew Hunk agreed.

For once, Iverson’s expression gave a hint of pride, but his tone was flat. “The only reason your sister is not in jail was my promise to Sam. She broke into the Garrison looking for proof you are alive. She threatened to expose the truth about your disappearance.”

Grinning at Iverson, Matt could not help keep pride from his voice. “Sounds like her. I’m sure you did what you could to protect the base and my family. Where is she now?”

“Your mother said she left for some school across the country to study Physics or computer science. I am sorry I do not know more, if I would have watched her carefully, my superiors would have pulled me away from the Garrison.”

A loud growl from Matt’s stomach made him blush. “Sorry. It been sometime since I had a decent meal. Hell, I don’t know how long I was gone. Can we get something to eat?” 

 

Six and a half hours later, Hunk and Matt were back in the med bay waiting on Lance. Both grabbed a bite to eat and showered. Hunk dressed in his civilian clothes, where Matt dressed in his old uniform. It was clear neither would sleep until Lance came out of the pod.

When Lance was around all Hunk would hear was his nervous chatter. Lance could talk for hours about his family, ideas he had or what he thought might happen in the future. Pidge was quiet, unless she felt uncomfortable with a certain emotion or thought process. Keith was quiet most of the time, but loved to spend time using energy on the training deck. 

Hunk was not prepared for was Matt.

Analytical, but compassionate, Matt would ask a question like about how the group became paladins. Next, he would listen closely and when the story was over, he appeared to process the information. As if, Matt was planning his next question. Periodically, Matt would move around the room examining items and making comments about how they could make it better. 

Curious about Matt, Hunk had to ask the question that bothered him since the moment they met. “Matt, did you have all your memories? I mean do you remember your life before Kerberos?”

Matt looked up from the panel he had in his lap and observed Hunk. Amber eyes seemed far in thought became focused on Hunk. “I remember my life before Kerberos, I remember Kerberos, when they first tested us, Dad was sent away, Shiro in the gladiator ring, my time with in the camp and my time outside the camp.” His flinch spoke volumes, but he continued. “Every time they would try to strip a piece of me away, I focused on something they could not define or take away. Like a sound or how something would feel. For example, one time my parents took us camping. My dad is an explorer, but not that great at roughing it. We went camping and Katie got lost. Well, not so much lost, but she wondered off to get a closer look of some trees. She said it was a forest to her and she didn’t want to go home. I went after her, but once I found her, we couldn’t find the way back. It started raining and she laughed. It was great, because her real laugh is contagious. We were playing in the rain when our parents found us. Those cookies you made yesterday, the peanut butter ones, are her favorite.”

Taking a deep breath, preparing to tell Matt the truth, Hunk chickened out. ‘If we don’t find you soon, we will have to tell him the truth. Like it or not, he has a right to know your secret Pidge.’

Lance’s pod opened and the red paladin stumbled forward. As always, Hunk pulled him into a hug, but Lance could not resist a joke. “What, no clock party?”

The yellow paladin watched as Matt looked toward the floor and it made Hunk sad too. “Sorry Matt, we sometimes forget all our inside jokes. You see ”

“Hunk, it’s not that. I bet you are talking about your friend Pidge. You miss him, which is understandable since he is part of your team.”

Moving from Hunk’s grasp, Lance faced Matt. “Shiro wanted to find you. We will find Pidge, and Sam. We will get Shiro away from the Zarkon and Haggar. Voltron will defeat him. Please do not doubt we do not care what happens to you.”

“I don’t. I just want to help and I don’t know how.” Matt’s toughened exterior showed anger, but he kept his tone even and calm. “Zarkon took my family, my home, my friends, and tried to kill me. I will find a way to make him pay. First, all I really want is to do is see my sister. Only, I don’t want to hurt her if she has moved on. What if she didn’t move on and she is still worried about me?”

Smirking at Matt, Lance stood right in front of him. It was only then Lance realized how tall Matt was in comparison to him. He brushed away the thought of poor short Pidge and focused on the Holt in front of him. “The perfect place to start would be finding Pidge. Then, we can set things right with your family and go from there. As for Shiro, he always has a plan. He knew what he was doing and I know he will make his way back to us.” Placing his hand on Matt’s shoulder, the two shared a moment of silent understanding between them. “We need to talk to Allura. Right, Hunk?”

Smiling at his new and old friend, Hunk nodded yes. It came as no surprise that Matt and Lance would get along, because they were similar in personality. He could see the struggle to be the best in both of them. Deep down, Hunk wondered if Lance finally found someone to compete against that will not take offence to the Lance’s competitive nature.

Stepping out of Lance’s grip, Matt held a smirk of his own. “Sounds like a lot of talk, what do you have to prove you have the guts to stand up to Zarkon?”

Dramatically rolling his blue eyes, Lance pushed passed Matt. “Let’s find out, if you are man enough.” 

Keeping in step behind them, Hunk listen to them joke. Glad that Lance sounded like his older self, Hunk kept pushing the thought of Pidge missing this moment away. If anyone could help them find her, it was her brother. 

Once the door to the bridge opened, they could hear Allura voice. “We need more power. I can do this Coran, step aside.” 

Briefly surveying the new arrivals, Coran stood his ground. “Princess, you need to rest. If you make the jump now, you could pass out. If that happened, we could end up anywhere. Please, you need a little rest. ”

“Coran, this is Pidge. I can do this. Stand aside!”

Stepping out from behind Hunk, Keith rushed over to the Alteans. “What is going on, Iverson told me to come to the bridge?” Quickly scanning their faces gave him nothing, but when he glanced at the data screen behind Coran, Keith exhaled loudly. “You found Pidge’s location?”

Coran kept his guard up and kept Allura from the controls. “Unfortunately, our number 5’s location is at the very edge of space in the opposite direction. Allura needs rest if she will make the proper jump. In addition, the area had high Galra activity. If Allura is weak, then we will not be able to jump out.”

Sighing louder than he intended, Matt blushed. “This would put you back into the situation we are in now, or even worse. I can see the dilemma. However, if Pidge is resourceful and clever as you claim, then a few hours of sleep should be fine. Besides, it will give everyone time to prepare for a fight.”

Logically everyone agreed with Matt, but emotionally they all wanted to race to their friend. Hunk considered what he would want the others to do for him. “Did we hail Pidge? Was there a response?” Coran’s posture shrunk slightly giving Hunk the answer. “Then, we can assume that Pidge can’t hear us and is laying low from the Galra. We are all thinking it; Pidge would want us to wait.” He calculated if Matt knew the truth, he might push to ignore the rules and go after her anyway. 

A careful consideration passed through Keith as he decided to keep to the rule of not telling Pidge’s identity. “Allura, as the black paladin, we should wait until you have a meal and rest for eight hours.”

Coran offered a peace offering to Allura to help ease her pain of losing her paladins the first time. “Princess, how about a four hours rest and having a small snack?”

Her eyes scanned her paladins and Matt, looking for someone to agree they should go now. Her only hope was Lance, but he appeared angry and quite. “Agreed.”

Hunk noticed the way Matt watched Lance carefully as if Matt expected Lance to object. The yellow paladin wondered if Matt suspected Pidge’s identity, but waited for Lance to admit the truth. “We should all rest for a few hours, so we can be ready when we get there. Lance, do we want to show Matt his room?”

For the first time since they arrived on the bridge, Lance spoke. “Come on Matt, you can sleep in the room across the hall from mine.” He turned and walked out with Matt right behind him.

Hunk let them go without joining them. As much as the yellow paladin would love to make Matt an unofficial member of the team, he had to let Matt figure out when he belonged. Moving closer to Keith, Hunk whispered to the black paladin. “We are doing the right thing by waiting, I just wish… I just wish we could tell him.”

“Well, in five hours, Matt will know the truth.”


	4. Fearless

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Finding the green paladin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Holt siblings reunited.

Lush forest of green, blue, and purple covered nearly the entire jungle planet surface. Trees reached so high into the sky the ground lay hidden in a sea of leaves. A beach lined the edge of a body of water where the Green lion and her paladin waited. It was the perfect settling for the Green lion and its paladin. 

At least, when the Castleship landed, Pidge hoped the scenery would distract her friends from asking questions.

By the time, the Castleship landed next to the Green lion, Pidge was ready to leave the forest enriched planet. She thought she was prepared to see everyone again and ready to continue the journey together. Boy was she wrong.

A familiar face, Keith, was the first one out of the ship. It was clear that Keith gave her and her lion a once over before he stopped in front of her. Then, she spotted two familiar faces come out of the ship, Hunk and Lance. Suddenly the smile on her lips turned genuine. They appeared shaken, but alive. Before she could question about their fearless leader, Keith spoke.

His voice was off, even to him. "Glad to see you alive. Are you okay?" When her eyes narrowed on him, he felt compelled to continue. "Sorry we took so long. We would have been here sooner, but we had a hard time tracking you. Let's get inside the castle and talk. Are you injured?" 

She shook her head no.

"Are you hungry?"

Again, she shook her head no. Glancing at her lion, Pidge let out a sigh. "I can put Green in her hanger and we can go."

"Why didn't you respond to our hails or try to find us?" Rough in tone, Keith's words sounded off.

Her eyes widened for a brief second at the reminder of her radio silence. With a shrug of her shoulders, she went back to her usual response and tone. "We just got back on our feet today. I haven't try to fly yet, but since the castle is here, why not." 

As Pidge was ready to get back to Green, Hunk had made his way over to her. He pulled her into a big hug. “Oh Pidge, we are so glad you are safe. We were worried, we have not heard from you in weeks. So much has happened.”

Commanding in tone, Keith snapped. “Hunk, let her go, you are suffocating her. We can talk in the dining room and afterward she can get cleaned up.”

“Lighten up Keith, he missed me. But seriously, I’m not going anywhere, you can let go.” She smiled while she ignored the snort from her lion. 

Hunk, who look like a kicked puppy, turned and slowly walked toward Keith. His voice felt like a warm hug. “Are you okay? Is Green okay?” 

A light smile played on her lips, “she will be.” 

When she stepped back and saw Lance up close, she ran her hands over her face. When their eyes met, she could tell that was her mistake. No glasses. She knew from his look that he realized the glasses were missing, but he said nothing. She smiled again, but this one was for show.

Again, Hunk’s worry made her smile fall. “Are you hurt? Hungry? Is Green okay? What happened to her side?””

Quick glance at Green’s side, reminded Pidge how bad to damage appeared. “It’s worse that it looks. Superficial really. How are you? Were you injured, was Yellow?” Her eyes scanned Keith. “What about you Keith, were you injured or how about Red?” When Keith and Lance tensed, Pidge mind exploded with questions.

A whistle from Lance broke the tension. “Wow, this place is a gorgeous. Hey Keith, you think we have time for a swim or at least a camp out? What do you say Pidge, think we can stay here a few days?” 

Sensing a change within herself, she hoped to leave as soon as the castle arrived. However, she would stay for them; maybe she would have the courage to talk about everything. “Sure. But first how about I get Green back into the castle, we get something to eat and then I take a shower?”

She turned her back on her fellow paladins and walked toward Green. Green knew why she was tense and the two took off toward the castle. A camera in Green's eye captured Lance and Keith exchanging glances, but neither spoke. 

“Green, please give me time. I will tell them, but first let me think about how to tell them. I mean, look at how well you took the situation.” A growl of displeasure past between paladin and lion, Pidge frowned. “Image how they will take it.” A tear slipped out and landed on Green’s panel. “Image how he will.”

Comfort and love poured into her from Green as she made her final decent into the hanger. Once they touched down, Pidge felt the only safe place was her chair. She wanted to see her friends, but she wanted to stay with Green. “I’ll be back I promise.” She grabbed Matt’s glasses and headed out to meet her friends.

As she stepped out of Green, Pidge found herself pulled into another hug this time by Coran. Slightly shaking, Pidge did not want to embarrass him. “Wow. You really missed me.” Until that moment, she thought Allura and Coran would only miss the lions. Now she felt worse for the stress she induced. “Will you be my escort?” 

The princess nodded at Pidge with a sincere smile. The three walked silently at first, but seeing others in the castle made her uneasy. “Since when do we have other people aboard the ship?” Still deep in thought, she continued. “Did you locate Shiro?”

As they stepped over the threshold, Keith spoke up. “Pidge, just wait until we sit down.”

Irritation made her turn to face him, while her back was to the dining room. First where did he come from and second, she had a right to ask. Her eyes narrowed on him and she refused to keep her voice low. “Keith, who died and left you in charge?”

Lance could not stop from spitting out his drink right on top of his own plate. “Pidge. Warn a guy next time, will ya.”

“Lance, shut…” Her words died in her throat when she spotted Allura and Coran stood next to Carter, and Iverson. Amber eyes widened and she turned back to Keith, venom dripping in her tone. “Tell me now.”

As the voice of reason, Hunk walked over and guided her to a chair next to Lance. Setting food, real Earth food, in front of her, Hunk smiled. “We are so glad you are back. Please give us a moment to explain.” 

Exhaling softly, Keith made his way over and sat down on the opposite side of the table. Keith proceeded to fill Pidge in on the events surrounding Shiro’s decision to go back to Zarkon. Keith described his journey back to the castle.

Next, Hunk took over tell the events relating to Lance and him. When the yellow paladin told the part about Lance’s crash landing, Pidge smirked and snorted. Hunk described the situation with the Garrison lending support and assistance to the paladins. 

Allura, Coran, Iverson, and Carter said nothing during this discussion, which only made Pidge wonder what they were hiding. The paladins never mentioned her as Katie or that she was female. Then, Pidge kept quiet on her own because her mind occasionally wondered to what she went through and how she would tell them. 

The door to the dining room opened and more from the Garrison entered. It was hard to look at them after what she lost so she focused on her fellow paladins.

Weakly, she smiled at Lance. “Lance, anything else exciting happen while I was gone?”

A Cheshire grin on Lance’s face was not as bad as his troublemaking voice. “I had to go into the cryo pod again. Only this time, I saved a person very, very, very important.”

Sarcasm dripped from her words. “Did she agree to go out with you because you saved her life?”

A warm chuckle graced his lips making Pidge nervous. “No. nothing like that. I want you to say hi to him.” He stood up and motioned someone over, so Pidge stood up as well. 

Not sure what to expect, Pidge turned around and stood one foot from a Garrison soldier. Of course, the new guy was taller than her (who wasn’t), brown hair, amber eyes and skin which matched hers. A familiar smile graced his lips as he held out his hand. 

Realization struck hard as she stared at him and her voice was lost in a sea of sounds in the room. Her mind raced with questions, but she stood frozen. ‘How? When?’ Pidge realized he did not have any Galra parts like Shiro. He was one hundred percent human and was safe. 

“My name is...”

In an instant, her body propelled itself forward and she embraced him around the waist. Her eyes watering and her voice cracking she spoke. “How? Why? When? Are you hurt? Do you have your memories? Did you know what happened on Earth? Where did they find you?” She pulled back slightly and peered up at him. “Do you remember me? Do you know who I am?”

“No.”

Letting him go, she stepped back and stared at his confused face. “Sorry about that. I…” She removed the glasses she wore and rubbed her hand over her right eye. Balancing on her toes, she gently placed the glasses on his face. Her eyes drifted to the floor as she spoke. “Matt, I’m sorry, I saw you and I… I…”

“Katie?” Amber eyes clashed as the Holt siblings gazed at each other for what seemed like an eternity. Recognition sparked and the two flew into another hug. Only this time, Matt shoved her to his chest as his arms held her tight. Eyes watering and voice cracking, Matt had to ask everything in his head. “Katie? How did you get here? Why are you here? Are you okay? Are you injured?” After a deep breath, Matt lowered his voice. “Oh, Katie, I missed you.”

“Katie Holt!” At Iverson’s voice, both of the Holts stiffened. 

Keith rose from his seat and stared down Iverson with his violet eyes and his words. “Don’t. Just don’t. We get your mad she lied, that we lied. Put that aside and give them this. She has sacrificed everything to find the Kerberos crew. We lost Shiro, but at least she can have Matt.”

The commander turned his attention to the Alteans, his words stern. “I’m surprised your people allow children to become paladins. She is 14 years old.”

Pidge missed the conversations around the room as her mind went into analyzing Iverson. Her voice carried over the crowd. “How did you know my age?”

Her brother pulled them apart slightly, but kept his hands on her shoulders. “He had a daughter your age. She was older than you, by about two months. Dad told him to look after you while we were gone.” Matt smiled at her and released his hold. “Most people see you size and age. Those that know you, however, see a force of nature not to be messed with lightly.”

“As the green paladin, I am the guardian spirit of the forest.” Smirking as she turns to Lance. “You were shot for my brother. Thank you.” She gave him a quick hug that was over before it really started.

Playfully, Matt pushed Pidge. “Hey, I got shot too. I had to go into the cryo pod thing.” His sister mumbling the word baby, made him look offended. “I didn’t ask him to burst into the room and knock me to the floor. The soldier needed me alive because I wouldn’t tell him were I hid Zarkon’s weapon.” 

Shaky but determined, Hunk asked, “what weapon?”

Rubbing his chin while he thought, Matt tried to remember what name the Galra used. Snapping his finger, Matt answered. “The Black Bayard. Yeah, they referred to it as the Black Bayard.” Scanning the room, he realized they had heard of the weapon. “I can take you to it. It is not far from our location.”


	5. Clever

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Searching for the black bayard.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sometimes a setback is not a setback.

For twenty minutes, Lance watched as Matt refused to disclose the location of the Black Bayard to Iverson or Allura. Matt told Pidge, but he said he would not reveal the location unless he was able to go. Lance agreed with Matt and from the look of his fellow paladins, they agreed too. They wanted the location, but the paladins and Matt must stay in the castle. Since Lance became the red paladin, he had a harder time keeping calm, until he saw the sly look that flashed on Pidge’s face.

Defeat appeared on her face before she spoke and her tone was sad. “Matt told me the location of where to find the Bayard, I can set the coordinates.” Pidge ignored her brother gasp along with the strange looks from her fellow paladins. “While they are gone, I would like to go outside the castle and enjoy the beach.”

It was very distracting the amount of people moving around the room while Lance focused on Pidge. Matt was correct, she was the clever and she clearly had a plan. Now, he wanted to help. “You will just tell them the location and then play outside. How dare you?” He saw her anger and when their eyes locked, he smirked ever so slightly. Lance knew the moment she understood and kicked it up a notch. “You should trust those around you especially your brother.”

“How dare you, this is the right thing to do. We need the Bayard or do you want to sit around and wait for Matt to change his mind?” Her words came out harsh, but it was really directed at his smirk not his words. “You don’t like it, you can leave!”

Keith moved to intercept them, but Lance pushed back from Pidge and walked toward the door. Shocked at their reaction, Keith observed Lance grab Matt’s arm and motioned to the door. “Lance, wait.” He was to late to stop the two from walking out.

Once out of the room, Matt yelled at Lance. “What the hell was that?”

“Keep your voice down; we need to get outside the castle before the others get there.” At Matt’s confused look, Lance continued. “Your sister had that I have an idea look on her face right before se said she would tell them the location.”

“I hate that look. I usually get in trouble and end up explaining to my parents why she meant well.” Lance’s laugh made Matt chuckle. “As always, I accepted responsibility. I must say, it is good to see her have friends.”

Slowly they move down the hall, as Lance’s was deep in thought. His voice was low and soft. “I never thought about it. When we met, I only thought of her as that quiet boy with the wicked mouth. She loved to dish out sarcasm.” Lance ignored Matt’s snicker. “Dedicated to technology above all else, even another being. Her only higher devotion was the two of you. Anyway, she never mentioned she was a girl until later. I assumed she kept her distance to avoid discovery. I never considered she acted like her normal self and not just to keep from being discovered as a girl.” 

“Can you keep a secret?” Matt whispers back as the exit the castle and head into the forest. Once he saw Lance nod yes, Matt whispered. “She always thought science, technology, and computers were better than people. Although, the moment she finished a project, when she thought no one saw her, she would sit in her room, combing her hair, and cry. She always held everything in, because it is bad enough she was small, she didn’t need to be weak too.” 

“Well, she is not alone. Hunk, Keith, Coran, Allura, and I will not let anything happen to her.” Lance glanced at the clear water to the left of the forest line.

This time, Matt chuckled lightly as they stop just inside the tree line, near a black scorch mark on the ground. “Iverson and my five former Garrison classmates would also protect her like their own. They are like family, a team, and we protect each other. It’s just Carter and the others, I don’t trust.” 

Comfortable silence stretched out between them as they watched for the others to arrive. Then, Lance spoke. “This planet really is beautiful. The beach, the hot spring, the clear water, and even the forest behind us are a paradise.” Pointing to the scorch mark, Lance frowned. “But, what is with that?”

Tilting his head to the side, Matt bent down and examined the spot. “It is almost as if, nothing will grow there.”

At the mention of the spot on the ground, the others came into view. Once close enough for both groups to see each other, Keith rubbed the back of his neck.

“Got my message, I see. Next time Lance, try to tone it down.” Focused on her data pad, she never saw Lance give her a dirty look. “Okay, let me call Green and we will get out of here.”

At that Lance grabbed Pidge’s arm, when he heard one of them gasp, he let go. “Look, Green has stealth, but Red has speed. Besides, she needs time to heal.” 

She opened her mouth to argue, but stared at the spot on the ground. “Green is fine and she can handle one small trip.”

Lance just smirked as Red landed gracefully in front of them. “Got it covered.” Turning his attention to Red, he all but purred to her. “Hey baby, ready to help us break a bunch of rules.” She opened for her paladin making him smile.

The five friends loaded into Red. Lance at the helm, Pidge to his right, then Matt, Hunk and last Keith on Lance’s left. Red took off into the air like a rocket. A few groans from her passengers as Lance pressed his panel. Pidge bumped into Matt causing both Holts to mumble sorry. 

Shaking his head no, Lance spoke. “Ignore them, your great.” Red twisted and turned into the sky moving quickly away from the castle. “Red, make sure they don’t track us or call us back to the castle.” Inside the cockpit, Lance pulled up a chart for the group to see. “Well, when we get a chance, we will ask nicely for Pidge to disable the tracker permanently.” 

Irritation laced Pidge’s voice as she glared at Lance. “Okay Matt, where are we headed?” As soon as, Matt pointed, Pidge thanked him.

“Okay, I meant to say, I will ask her nicely.” Shaking his head no again, Lance glanced at Pidge. “Red is touchy about letting anyone touch her systems so don’t take it personal.”

Red and her paladin made quick work of their trip. Lance was all business again, which made Pidge relax and focus on her data pad again. Matt caught the confused expression on Keith face and Hunk’s eye roll. 

Once they arrived, Matt’s face fell. “This is wrong. Where is the ship? It was right here. Can you do a scan for a Galra ship?” An image of the ship appeared on the screen, but the location was twelve miles under the ice water surface of the planet. “Okay, let’s go.”

This time, Lance sounded irritated. “We can’t. Red designed for hot environments, not submerged under icy water. She will not go in there. She says only Blue could handle that deep of a dive. She is sorry, but we need Blue.” 

Two sets of amber eyes gazed at the screen, almost willing a plan to appear. Pidge was the first to speak, well more of a ramble. “If the Garrison has ships we can try those, but I doubt they can go that deep. Earth’s deepest point is a little less than 7 miles and we can only measure that with sonar. The path Red indicated is too narrow for the castle, or the Black lion.”

“Pidge, stop.” Keith ran his hand through his hair. “If our residence geniuses can’t figure out a solution, we will need to go to the castle empty handed. We will explain what we know to Allura, Coran, and Iverson only. Maybe we can get them to understand what this means to Voltron.”

Rubbing his neck, Hunk fidgeted as he spoke. “Maybe, while we’re gone the Blue paladin will be selected. Allura said they were close.”

Keith placed his hand on Lance’s shoulder to indicate it was time to go back. The rest of the trip was in silence.

 

An hour later, when the team returned empty handed, Iverson and Allura took turns yelling at them. Matt’s old classmates kept shaking their heads and making disappointed faces. When it was over, each one of the rule breakers went their separate ways without a word.

A few hours passed before Lance ventured into the training deck. Packed with different groups, he spotted the Holt siblings sitting less than a foot apart. Hunk and Keith practiced dodging the training bot with two of Matt’s friends, while the other three watched nearby.

Matt glanced at his sister again as she ground her teeth creating an awful noise, which caused him to wince. He wished he could talk to her about everything, anything, but he went back to examining the tablet in his lap. Dressed in his old clothes, he felt out of place, but he was not sure why. Normally, it would not have bothered him, but everything felt off. Then, a memory flashed in his mind of swimming at the Garrison as his team practiced a water rescue drill. He kept trying to think of ways they could overcome their water problem. 

Even though Pidge was beyond happy to have her brother back, right now she wished he would stop mumbling. “What did you say?”

“Nothing. Just talking to myself.” 

Her wild amber eyes flashed over to the other paladins and back to her brother. “Matt, please repeat what you said.” She wanted to scream, but kept her cool. His eyes never left his screen and her fellow paladins have no clue causing her to growl at the men in her life. Closing her eyes, she gave herself a moment to calm her mind. After a deep breath, she opened her eyes to find her brother attention directed at her. “Matt, please tell me what you said.”

It was her panic, which caused Matt to turn to face her. “Well, I’m sorry that we need the Blue lion. I didn’t think it would be that hard. Last time I was there, the ship was on a little piece of land. I’m sorry we are unable to reach it.” His eyes glanced at the others and then to the floor. “It is frustrating the amount of ideas that keep running around in my brain. Not even the ships from the Garrison can reach that depth, I checked.”

Reaching out and touching her brother’s arm, her voice was as sweet as the look on her face. “Matt, I understand. I can’t figure out how to adapt one of the others to the cold. Black is too big. Yellow designed for defense, not for agility. Green would kill me going into water that cold.” She rotated her neck and it made a cracking sound.

Silence passed between the Holts, but Keith kept focused on Hunk and training bot. Well, he did keep focus until Lance tapped him on the shoulder. “What?”

“Did Allura say anything about the Blue paladin?”

Keith wished Shiro were here, because he always knew the right thing to say. “They have narrowed it down to three. We should know more tomorrow around lunch. Something about a final test of their quintessence.” 

“Funny, all I had to do was, knock.” Lance winked and smiled at Keith, making his friend frown. 

Hunk chuckled. “Actually, Keith found the general area, Pidge studied the Voltron signature as did Keith, I built the machine with Pidge helping and we all found Blue together.”

“Again, all I had to do was, knock.” His smile widened. “Well, hate to do this to my adoring fans, but I need sleep. See you guys in the morning.” Taking one last look around the room, Lance waved at the Holts and left. 

Roaming the halls before he could pass out, Lance found the castle had more people then he realized. The training deck had his friends and fellow paladins. In the med bay, Coran and a few aliens they rescued were telling stories. Iverson passed him in the hall as he went to grab a bite to eat. Allura stood on the bridge checking out Galra movements. Done stalling, Lance decided it really was time for sleep. 

When he made it to his door, he watched Pidge and Matt say goodnight. It made Lance homesick to watch, but he was happy they had each other. He closed his door and started thinking about everything that happened lately. Laying in his bed his mind wondered forcing him to close his eyes.

‘Leaving home and going to the Garrison, meeting Keith and Hunk. Then, meeting Pidge and being on the roof. Next, meeting Shiro and spending time in Keith’s shack. The first adventure the team took, into the desert, to find Blue. Fighting his first ship and going through the wormhole to arrive at the castle. He caught Allura as she fell out of the pod and his verbal sparring with Coran. Hunk saved him from the Galra ships. 

Homesickness. Yes, he went to the bridge to think about home and Coran came in. They looked at the chart and Coran showed him how far Earth was from their current location. His realization the drone was the wrong color and without Pidge.’

Jerking awake, Lance bolted out of bed. He ran out the room and straight to Keith’s door. He knocked hard and when he received no answer, Lance let himself in. However, Keith was not there. Lance spun on his heels and made his way to the training room.

Rounding the corner past the lunchroom, Lance ran straight into Keith. They collided with enough force to knock them to the floor.

“What the hell Lance?” Keith said as he rubbed his arm.

“I know who the Blue paladin is.”


	6. Struggle

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Who is the Blue paladin?

Grateful to have taken the time to think about his conversation with Lance, Keith walked into the lunchroom to speak to his team. All anyone knew was the paladins needed a meeting with Allura, Coran and Iverson. Keith asked Hunk to round everyone up and gather them in the lunchroom. The team was to dress in their paladin armor, but not to discuss anything outside of the group. 

Stopping between Iverson and Allura, Keith surveyed the room. Hunk and Lance stood behind Matt as he worked on Pidge’s computer. Matt’s former team sat on the other side of the table debating the training session for the day. Glancing down at his black paladin armor, he knew there was no going back. Even if Shiro came back, Keith would be the black paladin. Up until now, he always figured they could go back. This made everything real for him. When a small hand touched his, Keith jump. “What?” 

Worry made Pidge touch Keith’s hand, but at his reaction, she let go. “Sorry. We are ready when you are.”

Frowning at both their reactions, Keith noticed a small spot on the left shoulder of the green paladin armor, which received repair. “When did that happen?” She mumbled something and moved away, but Keith kept a mental note to ask later.

Pidge sat in the empty seat next to Matt on the left. Her face scrunched in disgust, but never said a word to him about taking her computer.

“Everyone listen up. The paladins will take this small group from the Garrison with us as backup. They will stay topside in their ship as we go into the water in Blue.” Turning back to Iverson, Keith made his tone sound like Shiro. “Please make this as discreet as possible. We need to talk to him and he will need to change into his armor.”

Leaning in toward Keith, Iverson whispered. “Always knew if you wanted to you could be a team player. Glad to see it is finally sinking in.” He turned toward his team, nodded to Allura, and walked over to address his team.

Coran watched Iverson, shook his head in confusion, and looked over at Keith. “Is your military normally so demanding? You are the paladins of Voltron.” At Keith’s nod yes, Coran continued. “This reminds me of my time when I…”

Stepping forward, Lance rescued Keith. “Coran, we would love to stay and chat, but we have to go. Maybe later, okay?” Smiling at Keith, Lance tilted his head toward the table and his fellow paladins.

Allura grinned at her paladins, at least, her paladins in front of her. “Please be safe. All of you have risked enough and it bothers me to keep putting you in harm’s way when it is my fault.” 

Interrupting any comeback, Matt wore a frown as he spoke. “You had no way of knowing that you would be taken to Zarkon. The paladins knew what they were doing. Protecting each other, this castle, our home planets, and the universe is the foundation of the paladin code. You are a part of that.” While adjusting his glasses, he looked down at the keyboard. “Never feel sorry for our choices and never second-guess yours. We are all doing our best. That is all we should expect from ourselves.” He noticed his clothes did not match, the Garrison shirt he had, but non-military issue pants, which he borrowed from Lance. He snickered at himself for not noticing sooner. “Last time, I get dressed in the dark.” He chuckled lightly and realized the room was silence. When he looked up, all eyes focused on him. “What? Is my outfit that bad?”

Grinning from ear to ear, Lance slid into the chair on Matt’s right. “Don’t worry, I have the perfect outfit for you. It will be comfortable and after today, this place will feel a little more like home.”

Matt slightly pulled back making Lance let go. “I have clothes in my room.”

Using a tone to match her frame, Pidge looked past Matt to Lance. “How did you know it was him?” Pidge pulled her brother into a hug and squeezed. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m so glad it’s you. Mom would be freaking out, but Dad might have guessed, or maybe Shiro.” Pulling back, she smiled at him.

Keith placed his hand on Matt’s shoulder. “We need you to change clothes. We will talk more afterwards.”

 

Five minutes later, the five paladins walk into Blue’s hanger. Each one wore their paladin armor with only one missing a Bayard. Lance, Matt, Keith, Pidge, and then Hunk. Motionless, Blue sat at the other end of the room with his barrier up.

Matt moved his head to the side and back. Then, he walked on the other side of Keith and moved his head again. “Is it just me, or are the eyes following me?” If anyone responded, he never heard him or her. Instead, he heard a playful growl. “Did you hear that, I heard a cat? Wait.” He stopped walking, as did the other four. “It was you.”

Comforting the new paladin, Hunk briefly wondered if his face mirrored Matt’s when he heard Yellow the first time. “What did you hear?”

The newest member of Voltron stood and stared at the Blue lion as the two had a conversation. His eyes filled with water, but nothing fell. “Yes.” His lips pulled up into a smile as he held back his head and laughed. “You are making that up? No way, he called him mullet to his face.” When Lance laughed, Matt snapped his attention to him. “Why would you call him that, when you had one as a kid?”

Hunk and Pidge busted out laughing at the shock on Lance’s face. 

Keith shook his head at all of them and wondered how Shiro kept his sanity. Then, Matt’s words sunk in making Keith curious. “Lance, you had a mullet? I would pay to see that.” Hunk and Pidge laughed harder at Keith’s expression. 

Matt chuckled and added his own joke. “Maybe Ka… Pidge can find a way to pull it out of Blue and show you. They have recording capability don’t they?” Matt noticed his sister stiffen and Matt was certain he was the only one. Was it the request or something else?

Matt was sure, until Lance spoke quickly and abruptly. “Okay, Pidge will work on that later. First, we need to get the Bayard. Matt, get him to open up so we can go.” 

At the one mumbled word, the barrier around Blue disappeared. “Open.” Blue moved to allow entry and Matt could feel the building excitement. Then, the blue paladin understood the excitement was Blue. The lion missed flying. Somehow, Matt knew where to go and sat at the pilot’s chair. At his touch, the display turned on and Matt powered up the engines. Once Matt understood how the controls worked, he reached the front of the castle. Above the planet, the Garrison ship waited for them to reach atmosphere.

A moment later, Allura’s face appeared on the lower left of the screen. “Matt, please come back quickly and be careful Paladin.” Then, she was gone.

Mumbling more to himself than his team, Matt smiled. “Paladin?” He shifted his eyes over his right should and smirked at Lance. “Okay Blue, let’s see how long we take to get to the ship holding Keith’s Bayard. After all, it took Lance, what… Five minutes? And Red was afraid of water.” 

Before anyone could respond, Blue took off into the sky. Rolling and dodging fake targets as Matt directed a straight shot.

Almost sad to know Lance will have a new person picking on him for a change, Keith could only smile. Lance liked to be competitive with Keith, but now he would have his hands full with Matt. From the look on Lance’s face, Matt was an expert at pushing Lance back. Now, Keith had to worry about keeping them from killing each other. 

“Dear brother of mine, please stop spinning. Unless you want Hunk to spread non-approved lubricant, i.e. vomit, all over Blue. Also, the Garrison crew needs to keep up.” She kept a growl to herself as Matt moved to far to the side and forced Lance right into her. “Matt, stop it.”

Lance snapped at Matt. “You are the worst pilot ever.”

In a flash, Blue settled into a smooth coast with Matt smirking at the helm. “In the Garrison, my friends and even Shiro learned it is not nice to tease me. Or keep secrets from me, I always find out. Am I right, Pidge?” He raised his eyebrows to be funny and he smiled when his sister scowled at him.

This time, she did growl. “Right now, you should be worried about my wrath. Just like when you ate all my peanut butter cookies right before you left. Don’t think I forgot, or forgave you. You will pay.”

Keeping his cool, Keith changed the subject. “Okay, guys. Let’s get to work.” Just as they got into position, Keith noticed the Garrison ship on screen. “Matt, can you scan for the ship with the Bayard again?” Matt nodded as a man about 2 years older than Keith appeared on screen.

The dark haired man addressed Matt as if they went way back. “Door Matt, let me know if you need me to come rescue you and your team. I’m sure you are a little out of practice. So try not to get in the way.”

After rolling his eyes and typing on his panel, Matt felt warmth so he poured the feeling into his words. “Jeff, stop calling me door Matt. Otherwise, I can tell everyone the nickname your mom used the last time she came to visit. I would hate for it to spread across the castle since I am the only one who knows.”

“Okay, I’m sorry Matt.” Running his hand through his dark hair, Jeff looked rattled. “No hard feeling.” When the Blue paladin nodded, Jeff smiled. “It is good you are back, you were missed. Hey, I did want to know… Is your sister single?”

Holding back a hell no, Matt snapped at his friend. “No.” Then, Jeff’s image disappeared from the screen. A scowl on Pidge’s face matched Matt’s as she pushed his shoulder. Matt pinched the bridge of his nose and readjusted his glasses. “Sorry about Jeff. He is always pushing my buttons.” Going back to work, Matt pressed the panel and Blue dove into the ocean. Blue cut through the water like substance in seconds, drifting side to side as the Blue paladin avoided debris. When their destination came into view, Matt slowed the lion down. 

Moving to the side of the ship, the team said nothing as Blue bumped the side of the ship before Blue docked. 

One gentle squeeze to Matt’s shoulder from Keith made them both relax. Keith glanced as his paladins and found his voice. “Hunk, you will guard the entrance. Pidge, see what data you can access from the nearest panel. Lance, keep an eye out for enemies. Matt, can show me where we can find my Bayard. Also, keep your helmet on, but keep talking to a minimum. No need to announce our presence.”

Walking into the hallway, Matt pointed to the right. “You two should find a control room down that way. It is the second door on the left.” Matt pulled Keith’s arm and the two traveled to the left. “We have to go down one level through the re-calibration room.”

Keith trailed behind Matt as they walked; knowing Matt was uncomfortable with this ship. “What’s the re-calibration room?”

Matt stood at the door and took a deep breath. “This is where they reprogram the Galra soldiers that disobey. However, some are able to fight the effects, so they are… let’s just say, it is not pretty.” When the door opened, the two paladins stepped inside.

“The Galra send their soldiers here?” Keith thought of a bad version of their training room. Whoever was the last one here did not clean up very well. Broken weapons, equipment, and robots scattered around. Flakes of dried blood every few feet stained the floor. When Keith realized Matt was not moving, Keith asked. “Matt, did you want to go around. Is there another way?”

“Let’s keep going.” Determined steps resumed as they made their way across the floor to the far wall. “It is hard to believe Zarkon sent his own son here.” Stunned silence from the team as Matt made it to the steps and started his descent.

Lance whispered to Pidge. “So not father of the year, I’m shocked.”

A small room was at the bottom of the steps. Matt pushed a plate on the wall and a small section of floor lifted to Matt’s waist height. In the middle of the pedestal sat a decorated box. Matt carefully lifted the box and moved back to the steps.

Keith’s voice was strange even to him. “How did you get the Bayard? Was someone helping you?”

“He was a prisoner here.” Staring at Keith’s face, Matt became worried. “I didn’t know him, but he helped me escape the first time. I think he helped Shiro escape. He left me a message telling me where to find the Bayard. His name was… Thace. Yes, his name is Thace.” When Keith’s face went pale, Matt shook Keith’s arm. 

Reaching for the box, Keith took it from Matt. He walked up the stairs, across the room and back into the hallway. When Matt spotted Lance and Pidge in the hallway, Keith kept walking straight back to Blue. 

The four paladins stared at Keith, but he refused to speak at first. “When we get back to the ship, we tell no one about this place or about the owner of this box.” He saw the confusion and worry on their faces, Keith gave them something. “Allura and Coran did not tell us about Zarkon being the Black paladin. We need to find out more before telling them about Zarkon’s son and Matt’s friend.”

“He was not my friend.”

Pidge glared at her brother. “Really, he helped you escape, probably Shiro too, told you how to get the Bayard and you get mad at him being your friend.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What did Pidge find from the ship?


	7. Worry

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The paladins practice being a team.

Third to arrive at in the training room, Hunk spotted Iverson talking to Keith by the far wall. Walking up to Lance, the yellow paladin spoke softly. “Where are Pidge and Matt?” Hunk observed Lance fidget with the shield on his armor.

Periodically, Lance would raise his shield and lower it again. “Matt left to go get Pidge. I tried to talk to her this morning and remind her about training, but she just closed the door in my face.”

Wringing his hand together, Hunk looked anywhere but Lance’s face. “Last night, she was in the Green hanger working on some code to enhance her location software. She yelled at me about sneaking up on her, I don’t sneak.” Hurt appeared on his face instead of being offended. “I didn’t touch her stuff.”

Rubbing her eyes as she entered, Pidge held a scowl on her face. “I told you I was on my way.” Rolling her eyes, she sat down her bag. She checked her laptop was present, but locked. Walking up to his sister and bumping her side, Pidge gave a small smile. “Ready?”

Over the speaker, Iverson’s voice carried around the room. “The first practice session will be a team building exercise.” Matt’s old friends, the team from yesterday, entered and moved closer to Keith. “Jeff, is your team ready?” When Jeff nodded, Iverson continued. “Earlier today, I placed an object on the far side of the room, a ball. Alpha team will protect the ball and the Paladins will steal it. Each team will work together to defend and protect.”

Matt was the first to speak. “Hey Jeff, hope you brought you big boy pants today, you’re going to need them.”

Submerged into darkness, the room lights went out except next to the ball, which was where Jeff’s team stood. As he walked to his team, Jeff whispered as he passed. “Good luck Paladins, you’re going to need it.”

Pidge grabbed both Keith and Matt to pull them closer, then she motioned to Hunk and Lance. “If I can get close enough, I can take it. They will expect one of you to steal it, but I am not much of a threat.”

Keith nodded in agreement. “Let’s split up. Hunk and Lance, you take the left. Matt and I will take the right. Pidge, keep behind Hunk, but not to close.” 

Cloaked in darkness, the paladins kept to their plan, which meant not using their Bayards. Lance took the lead, as did Keith on the other side of the room. The Alpha team had spread out, but only three of them were visible in the room light.

Hunk saw tension in Lance’s shoulders, but never said anything. Instead, Hunk focused on keeping their exit clear. When the shadow shifted behind Matt, Hunk gasped.

Reflex as fast as a tiger, Matt quietly knocked his shadow to the ground. Quickly, Matt pointed behind Lance as Lance took down another person.

Signaling at his team, Keith let them know on a three count they will attack. Matt attacked some tall blond girl and they rolled on the ground. 

Hunk knocked down a man about his size making them both fall. Hunk got to his feet in enough time to see, Lance grabbed the gun right out of Jeff’s hand. Once he had Jeff’s gun, Lance used it to hit Jeff in the chest and knocked the wind out of him.

Keith moved over to assist, but saw reinforcements coming. He signaled for them to pull back. Once the team made it back to the entrance, Keith yelled to Iverson. “Okay, round one complete.”

From the control room, Iverson turned on the lights and shook his head at Coran. “Well, that was terrible. Keith, your team had the advantage, yet you lost.”

A giggle came out of Pidge as she stood by the door, but it turned into laughter when Iverson yelled again. “Do you find defeat funny?” 

Her smile widened. “Yeah, I find their failure funny. First, they are good, but even as a new team, we are better.” 

Iverson stood up a little straighter as he spoke. “How do you figure you are better? The paladins lost.”

For dramatic effect, she pulled the ball out of her pocket and bounced it on the floor. “Good thing your team is better. I mean they are protecting a little piece of light as if it is important.” She held out her arm, pushed some buttons on her sleeve and magically the ball on the other side of the room disappeared. “Oops, where the ball go?” She bounced her ball again. “Oh, never mind, I found it.”

Stepping into view, Coran addressed the room. “Instead of these fake battles, I suggest we have the paladins train using linked minds.” Coran smiled when Iverson nodded yes. “Then, we can have the Alpha team go, sound like a good plan?” Again, Iverson nodded yes.

“No, Matt has a right to learn about this process without an invasion, especially, with all these people present.” A stern, yet commanding tone came from Keith. Just as Matt was about to protest, Keith continued. “Besides, I think we should try to form Voltron the old fashioned way. What do you say, Matt, care to try?”

Matt took a moment to look at his new teams faces. “Sounds like fun. That is if everyone else is okay.” Glancing over at Jeff, Matt saw a dangerous smirk. Unfortunately, Matt knew that look. “Jeff, it was a good game.”

Jeff walked over to Matt and kept his voice so only Matt could hear him. “Yes, well, you might want to tell lover boy.” Signally to his team it was time to regroup, Jeff nodded to Matt. 

 

Three hours later, Hunk found himself in the kitchen cooking dinner for the newest paladin. Hunk always found cooking relaxing, but right now, he wished Matt would make up his mind. “Matt, I have fresh food from the Garrison. Plus, the Alpha team went exploring and found all these fresh fruits. Please tell me what I can make you for dinner. Trust me, Food Goo is not that great.”

Chuckling at his new friend, Matt smiled at Hunk just as Lance entered the room. “Food Goo is interesting and I kinda like it.”

“First, no one likes Food Goo, especially, when you could have real food.” Hunk eyed both paladins as if he expected this conversation was a joke. “Second, we may get stuck with Food Goo again. I just want to make you something special.” At the same instant, both paladins smiled. “You are making fun of me.” Hunk’s eyes lowered on Lance.

“Don’t look at me, it was Matt’s idea. Besides, it was funny.” Dipping his finger into a bowl near him, Lance had to find out what Hunk thought was important. “Why are you making another batch of peanut butter cookies?”

Of all people, Lance usually noticed or commented on behavior faster than Hunk. Since Lance brought it up, maybe this was a good time for him to say something. “Something is wrong. Pidge and Keith are usually the ones who keep to themselves. They don’t like to share, but something is troubling her.”

Judging the looks on his fellow paladins, Matt thought he should provide his view. “How long was she alone? You two came out of the wormhole together. So did Shiro and Keith. What about her?”

“Thirteen days.” Lance glanced down at the bowl again.

Matt dipped his finger in the bowl to taste the cookies. “It’s great Hunk. She will love them. Just give her time and if not, I have my ways of making her talk.” His eyes noticed how tight Lance’s jaw was and knew to change the subject. “Do either of you know why Keith freaked out over a box?”

Hunk began fidgeting with some ingredients the Alpha team found outside the castle. “The design on the box was similar to the design on his dagger.” Opening a fruit that looked like a banana, but pink, Hunk broke apiece off and popped it in his mouth. “It tastes like strawberries and bananas. This is really good.” 

Not having to ask twice, Lance popped a piece in his mouth. “Oh my. This is great. We should explorer the planet more. Actually, after dinner, I will. I wanted to try that hot spring we saw when we landed. The water is so clear here, reminds me of home.”

“We can, as soon as Matt picks something for me to make him for dinner.” Hunk stared at Matt subconsciously willing the Blue paladin to tell him what to cook. When that failed, Hunk spoke. “Well?”

Grinning at the thought of food, Matt took another piece of the weird fruit. “When I was a kid, I was always eating yogurt, strawberry banana yogurt.” His eyes lit up so much he wondered if they thought he was nuts. “What about strawberry banana ice cream? Oh yes, ice cream. We can have peanut butter sandwiches and ice cream. I’ll help you cook. Do we have the ingredients?”

Handing Matt an apron, Hunk noticed the change in him. Hunk made a mental checklist of what items to keep on hand. Considering the dangerous nature of their job, it was important to keep spirits high when possible. Hunk playfully pushed an apron toward Lance and the team started cooking.

When Keith walked in, the kitchen was loud and messy. Hunk had made food before, but Keith wondered if the Yellow paladin enjoyed the company. 

Lance noticed Keith’s arrival first, and motion for Keith to join them. 

Hunk smiled at Keith joined them in such an activity. It was like the night they joked around with food. Placing the ice cream in a bowl, Hunk remembered the first party as a team, well sort of. “We should have a team chant, but we know how that went last time.”

Thinking about saying that would get stuck in his head, Matt said the first thing on his mind. “How about, I say Vol you say tron, Vol…”

Lance screamed, “TRON!” 

As Keith said, “Vol… tron?”

His eyes wildly darted from Hunk to Keith. “See, he gets it.” At Matt’s confused look, Lance filled him in on the story about when he had that chant. After the story, the two started laughing.

The two paladins were laughing so hard, no one heard the door open or see Pidge enter. She watched the former Blue paladin and the current Blue paladin laughing. A smile graced her lips, but never reached her eyes. When the laughter stopped, Pidge realized Hunk was watching her. “Did you need some help?” 

A smile that should be illegal, Lance directed it at her. “Hey Pidge, I say Vol you say tron, Vol…”

“Tron… What are we five?” At her sarcasm, Matt erupted in laughter forcing a frown on his sister face. “I understand why they say girls mature faster than boys.”

With a sly smile, Matt turned his attention to her. “No, you just let your brains take over and have a hard time having fun. For instance, tonight after dinner, we are going to explorer the beach. Care to have fun?”

Her nose scrunched as she stared down her brother. “No. I have a program to complete. Finding Dad and Shiro, beating Zarkon, are more important, than playing in the sand.”

A warm smile and a friendly tone came easy to Matt as he spoke. “We will find them and beat Zarkon, but we are entitled to have a life too. Otherwise, why do we do this? Someday, you will look back and wonder why you spent so much time working with the computer and not enough having fun. Besides, Dad and Shiro would not want you to miss out on life.” Wiggling his eyebrows, Matt knew what buttons to push. 

Lance could see her fighting to say yes, so he decided to give Pidge a push. “Well, you should stay here. I mean Iverson would not like us to leave the castle, so we would have to sneak out. It would really upset him if you left, considering you’re… what twelve?”

Her face became unreadable and her tone unemotional. “Well, I would still be older than you.” She turned to leave, grabbed the door handle, but stopped. She appeared to think over his words. “I’m in, but I am not getting in the water.” Then, she left.

Lance and Hunk celebrated the victory, but Keith was worried about Matt’s expression. When they made eye contact, Matt spoke. “Something is wrong.” Lance and Hunk snapped out of it and became serious at Matt’s words. “She is upset with herself, but can’t understand. It is like she failed, but at what?”

Keith glanced at the door. “Give her a few more days and if she doesn’t tell us, we will talk to her.” Picking up a plate of food, he headed for the door. “Let’s eat and turn in early. We can play in the sand all day tomorrow. It will do us some good. I will deal with Iverson and Allura.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Answers are coming, I promise.  
> The next chapter is a big one.


	8. Discovery

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Matt discovers his sister secret.

Unable to sleep, Matt worried about tomorrow and beach time with his fellow paladins. Blue tried courage, friendship, love, and now wisdom to comfort Matt. So, it made Matt believe, one way or another he would find the truth.

Matt used stealth and made his way into Green's hanger. He quickly walked over to the laptop connected to the Green lion and used his sister's login. Smiling, as he pulled up the old video files Green had in her memory banks, at least, what he would consider to the Green lion's memories. 

He was only looking for the file of when he first arrived with their group. He knew the team had suffered the loss of Shiro. Well Shiro wasn't dead, just an unfortunate guest of Zarkon. If Matt could find the moment he arrived, he might have some clues as to what changes they were seeing in his sister. He felt it was the least he could do for his new team.

Matt noticed a video file with locks codes that would make most men cry, but that was his sister. He looked away from the screen to check if anyone was nearby to stop him, and when he found the coast was clear, he got to work cracking the file.

After an hour, his amber eyes scanned the screen as he wondered who was more stubborn, the Green lion, or his sister. Matt knew stubbornness was a Holt trait, and this lion would fit right in, but still. It is only one file. Mumbling under his breath, Matt hoped his new line of code would bring the display to life. Since he didn't notice the new visitor, he jumped at the sound of his voice.

"Who deserves each other?"

Never looking up, Matt spoke frankly to his fellow paladin. "Lance, please don't sneak up on people." When Lance laughed, Matt stopped typing and turned his attention to his new friend. "What got you in a good mood?" A devious smirk graced Lance's lips giving Matt one more thing to add in Lance's favor against his sister.

"You sound exactly like your sister." The taller paladin continued in a mocking tone. "Lance, don't sneak up on people. Lance, don't invade a person's space. You’re a paragon of leadership, Lance. Way to thread the needle, tailor." 

It was Matt's turn to smile as he turned and got back to work. "And where is my sister?"

"Who deserves each other and what are you doing in here?" His voice changed back to its new direct and edgy tone. "She finished eating. Said she wanted to turn in for the night, but she could lie and be on her way here."

"When you walked in, I was mumbling about how stubborn..." Matt paused a moment to ensure he used the correct name. "Pidge and Green seem and how they deserve each other." When Matt heard Lance shift closer, he felt relieved. "I can tell you are worried about her."

Running a hand over his hair gave Lance a chance to collect his thought. “I just wonder what Pidge went through and as you know, she is not much of a talker." For a brief second, Lance smiled. "She didn't tell us she was a girl until a bomb exploded and I almost died, but at least we didn’t lose the ship. Well, it was mostly her saving the ship, even if she tried to spread the credit around."

"What?"

It was clear, Lance thought about telling Matt the story, but let it pass. Instead, Lance would help Matt if he could. "Don't worry about it. Anyway, if you are trying to break a password, try to think of the person she was when she initiated the password. People change and so do their passwords."

"Thanks Lance..." and that was all Matt needed. This was not his little sister anymore, she was risking her life to save others, and she was a hero. For a brief second Matt consider that prying into his sister's life was wrong. However, he interfered for the right reason. One more glance at Lance was all Matt needed to make up his mind. He typed the password that he was sure she would use only never admit.

A scream erupted from the large screen on the wall near Green, as the video showed the green paladin exiting the wormhole. For some unknown reason the video was from the outside of lion coming from the camera in her eye. 

Blue light flowed from a nearby planet into the largest Galra ship. However, Green crashing into the ship the stream stopped and the ship descended toward the planet. Seven Galra ships prepared to attack while three more stayed as backup. After a few seconds, the green paladin stopped screaming, but they could hear her labored breathing.

Confusion etched Lance’s words as the taller paladin spoke. "What is this? She was on a beautiful planet. She never mentioned fighting against anyone, especially the Galra."

Green dodged the first round of ship within twenty minutes from the start of their battle. 

Pidge’s luck ran out with the second wave and she went to take down one of the larger ships. She missed seeing a small fighter that made a kamikaze dive into Green’s left side. A scream broke through as the impact took place. 

Less than a minute passed, it seemed like an hour, before Green could shake off her attacker. Pain radiated from her voice. "Green we have to get out of here. Yes... We can engage cloak."

Pidge, managed to find a location on the nearby planet, which might give some cover. Therefore, when the next round of ships appeared, Pidge turned on Green's invisibility and snuck past the ships. Warnings appeared in the lower corner of the screen, but the readings did not make sense.

A black wasteland of dirt stretched beyond what the video showed. No trees, no wildlife, no usable water, and not even a blade of grass; appeared on the planet. In addition, it was clear to see there was nowhere to hide in this harsh environment.

However, the planet looked familiar to the video observers. Again, Lance spoke. "This is wrong; she landed on a beautiful planet." Then, he pointed to the lower left-hand of the screen. "When we landed, we landed on this planet. Wait, we found a natural spring right there. What is going on?"

Green stopped right next to the remnants of a dead tree, which lay on it’s side on the black ground. The spot reminded both viewers of the charred patch, from their time outside. Unspoken questions ran though their heads as the door opened.

At the same time, Keith and Hunk entered the room, the screen showed Green opening up to let Pidge out. Standing slightly behind Matt and Lance, all words ceased as Pidge came into view.

Pidge hobbled out of Green in her paladin armor. She faced away from the lion as she stumbled over to the leftover tree. She moaned from the pain as she collapsed. Barely keeping her body, especially her head, from hitting the ground, she twisted slightly to sit, causing her to sound like a wounded animal. She braced herself against as she sat next to the fallen tree.

Blood coated her left side as she faced Green and it was clear how bad she was hurt. A piece of metal stuck out of her left shoulder as she cradled her left arm in her lap. She used her right hand to remove her helmet. A small trickle of blood ran down the back of her head.

Amber eyes filled with tears as she looked over at her lion. She sounded broken as she spoke. “I’m sorry Green, but I need you to record a message to the others.” She paused as adjusted her arm. “I can’t. I made a similar scan to the one the castle preformed when we first arrived. I have about… two hours… left.” The first tear escaped, but she caught it with her hand. “I need you to record messages to the others, but you have to delete the video. Please, I need to say good-bye. I’m sorry Green, but I need them to understand. Then, I need you to take them the message, leaving me here.”

The four paladins heard voiced outside the room, but none of them moved. Next, the door opened and in walked Allura, Coran, and Iverson. Conversation stopped, when the new arrivals noticed the video.

Pidge held up her right hand toward green, her fingers covered in blood. “I’m not in pain Green, please stop. I thought it would hurt more, but I just feel… numb. Green, you will make me cry… Please, we need to make the audio file now before I can’t.”

Taking a calm breath, Pidge’s eyes focused on Green. “Okay, start recording. Shiro, you are such an amazing leader. I know you worry about us being kids, but we are willing to protect our homes and family at any cost. Do not, do not take this as a failure. Please find Matt, he will make a good paladin. He would do better as Blue or Red, but I know Green will love him. You are like a much older brother, or a very young dad. Don’t blame yourself for my mistake. And whatever happened in the time you were with the Galra, let it go. You are not that person anymore. End recording.”

She paused a moment to let a few tears roll away. “Start recording. Keith, it was an honor to serve with you. You are a great warrior; just remember not to stay up every night training alone. You are like a big brother to me and I want you to know that it doesn’t matter what blood runs through your veins, you are a paladin of Voltron. The others see you as part of this team, it is time you do the same. They will be supportive, because you are important to them. I know you are not used to having a big family, but you have one now. Get used to it. End recording.” 

A cough into her hand and saw blood, causing Pidge to lean her head back for a moment. “Pull it together Katie. You can tell him. Green, please not now. I know you want to go to the castle, but that will take too long. I need to fix you antenna for them to see you.” She coughed again making her eyes water. After a couple of calming breaths, she continued.

“Start recording. Hunk, please keep our little family together. Each of you will blame yourselves, but this is not your fault. If I could go back, I’m not sure what I would change. Maybe if I focused on finding my family more or beating Zarkon. I don’t know.” She thought for a moment, but when she spoke, she sounded broken. “Did you know that I thought of you as my buddy. I always told you not to touch my stuff, but now that I’m gone, I wouldn’t trust it with anyone else. Maybe Matt, but definitely you. Please find a way to save Matt and my Dad. Tell them… I’m sorry. End recording.” She stopped to cough and wipe a few tears way from her face.

“Start recording. Matt, please help them be a team again. They need you to step up and be a paladin. I’m sorry I never brought you home, but they will watch over you. Trust them as I have.” She looked at the ground and back at the camera. “Don’t tell him, it won’t matter because I am gone. Don’t let me feel the needed to say something nice. I don’t want that. Stop recording.” The tears she held back came out of her like a wave. Pidge did not stop the emotion from pouring out of her.

“No Green. I can’t tell him like this. It is not fair to him. He deserved more… he does deserve the truth… but not like this.” Another coughing fit erupted, but this time Pidge had a hard time stopping.

“Okay. I can do this… I will miss you too Green.”

“Start recording. Allura, I am glad you are back in the castle, please try not to put yourself in danger. Coran and Shiro were so worried, we all were. Please look after the paladins and my family. They will need your strength in the time ahead. End recording.” She angled her head to the sky and listened for Galra, when she found nothing, she continued.

“Start recording. Coran, you are like that crazy uncle everyone loves. I wish you could tell me a story right now about the castle, your people, or you. Because I should have listen to your stories more. Please do not let Allura or Shiro blame themselves. End recording.”

Staring right at her lion, Pidge took a deep breath. “Start recording. Lance… I don’t have a lot of time, but you should know…” Tears flowed again, but she stared at Green anyway. “I will miss all the jokes and fun we had. You are a great guy and I hope you get to visit home. Stop bugging Keith about who is the best, you are both good at different things. You are a great pilot and a great person. Help Matt see he has a friend, and help him break a rule or two. Keep an eye on Hunk and cook with him every once in awhile. Bug Shiro with your jokes, it is fun to see him flustered. Just know that…” 

Her voice faltered. “Green, I can’t say good-bye. I don’t want to die.” She cried harder, which made her cough. After a minute, she stopped. “I will miss everything, but at least they can still win. Look after my family Green.” 

She closed her eyes and her breathing slowed. “I hear you. I… will help… you. Survive…” 

As the last tear traveled down her face, her body went still. For a moment, nothing changed. 

Then, her body glowed slightly and the light entered the ground similarly to the light they saw go into the Galra ship. Green adjusted her body next to her paladin. The lion laid on the ground with her head directed at Pidge. Data pertaining to Pidge appeared on screen that indicated no life signs. Green’s head picked up to view an incoming Galra ship.

Lance panicked. “What is happening? She can’t be dead, she is in the ship right now. What is this? Someone tell me what is happening?”

Steadying his body, Coran willed his voice to sound normal. “Her quintessence, what makes her the guardian spirit of the forest, it is going into this planet. She is healing the planets, trees, and from the looks of what we see outside, she changed everything. Right before she… she gave her life force to save this dying planet. It is similar to what Allura did for the Balmera, but the planet must have given her life back. It is an even exchange. Only a truly powerful paladin can give their life force in this way. No one has survived the process.”

Matt pushed buttons on the keyboard to speed up the video. “Is this what she was hiding? This wasn’t her fault. I knew she hid something, but this?”

Iverson moved closer to Matt, his voice fatherly in nature. “She is here in the castle. She did not die. We can stop this video and talk to her. I can have someone bring her here.”

Before Matt could answer, Lance turned on Iverson. “How dare you? We need to know what happened. We need to know why her.”

Matt moved his hand to stop Iverson from yelling at Lance. It was a signal everyone caught, but Lance. The new blue paladin saw what Pidge’s death did to Lance and he knew to let Lance feel his emotions. “Lance, we will watch more, but we will need to talk to her too.”

Green sat up and when the ship flew close, she leapt into the air and grabbed the ship with her mouth. The seven observers watched as Green moved around Pidge’s body protecting it as if she was there. Ship after ship arrived to claim Green but the lion never accepted defeat. While Green stood guard over her dead paladin, the light around Pidge stopped.

Day became night. Little pieces of light appeared in different spots, but nothing bigger than a blade of grass. A Galra ship decided to attack Green in the cover of darkness. The ship would have landed, but a tree sprang out of the ground fast. Piercing the hull of the ship caused the ship to steer off course and crash. Crashing into the ground next to the sand, the ship began to sink into the water. As the ship sank, blue light came from the ship similar, but different, to the light that surrounded Pidge earlier. Quintessence the Galra stole from planets blended into the sand and water. 

The next day, another ship came, but this time Green did not move away from Pidge’s body. Green raised her barrier, laid down and waited. The grass started to grow around the lion and her paladin, but neither moved. Plants and trees grew slowly out of the ground over several cycles of the sun and darkness.

On day ten, Green became restless so she dropped her barrier. The lion moved around her paladin, and examined her surroundings. Beautiful clear water, sandy beach, and full of plant life, the Green lion moved closer to the forest. Again, the lion sat down and waited. At night, the planet glowed red, blue, yellow, and a blackish purple. The sky lit up as trees swayed. Green never moved as the light faded.

The next morning, Green moved quicker and the video made strange noise. Matt typed on the keyboard and the video slowed back to normal time. 

Green moved closer to her paladin and stopped, once again the Green lion fixated on her.

A groan came from Pidge as she sat up and rubbed her eyes. “What happened?” Slowly she looked around and saw the transformation of the planet. “Green slow down. What happened?” Her face stared in disbelief at Green. “Well, I remember…” Shock hit her as she appeared to remember her last remaining time. “I died… Green, hold on. I died. Then, what happened?” 

Amber eyes scanned the planet, but when they focused on Green, Pidge sighed. “I did this? Seems crazy. I get what you’re saying, well sort of, but I can’t have made this.” 

Glancing over at the water, Pidge smirked. “Well, how about I get cleaned up, we fix you up and then we get out of here okay?”

Matt stopped the video. “We need to stop. We need sleep and tomorrow or later today, we sit as a group and talk to her.” His eyes found Lance’s face unreadable and guarded. “We need to think of what we will say as a team. Don’t you agree Lance?”

“She should have told me.” Lance turned to leave, but Keith caught his arm causing him to focus on Keith. “What?”

The Black paladin let go of Lance, but kept his eyes trained on his face. “Are you going to be okay?” When Lance nodded yes, Keith frowned. “She is hurting. After what she went through, she came back to Shiro was gone, the two of us changing, we found Matt, and he is a paladin. It is a lot for anyone.”

“She was wrong. I would have told the truth, but our fearless paladin is not ready.” At Keith looked confused, Lance elaborated. “It was never her size, appearance or intelligence that is the problem. It’s her physical age.” Turning to Matt, Lance nodded. “Good night Matt, we can talk about what we will say in the morning. How we should approach the subject.”

Nodding to Lance, Matt mumbled. “Good night Lance.” Waiting until after Lance left, Matt sighed. “What will we say to her?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It is the hope that everyone is enjoying the story. The idea hit me after watching the season 2 trailer. However, I am afraid people will not like this chapter. Trust me, good times are coming. All emotions are part of life, even sad ones. Focusing on the good times make life worth it.
> 
> Please feel free to send comments.


	9. Wisdom

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> How will Pidge take the news that the secret is out?

Waking up early was one thing, but Pidge had never been the first awake. After checking on the time, she found she had a few hours before she had to meet everyone for the day. 

Stopping at Green’s hanger to say morning and to grab her laptop, Pidge took longer than expected. She noticed her scan stopped half way through, but she was a little worried about Green. After everything happened, all Green could say to her on this morning was sorry. 

Only Pidge felt sorry for keeping her secret from the others and making Green help. Slightly frustrated as to why Green was sorry, Pidge focused on comforting her lion instead. Strangely, Pidge found it nice that she could comfort her lion when her lion comforts her all the time. 

Making her way to the bridge, she hooked up her laptop to her station. She ignored the people coming in and out of the bridge, considering she was unable to tell who or what they were doing anyway. Pidge just focused on her code by downloading her file to her computer. 

She stood up, walked to the main display, and transferred her updated file. Typing away she barely noticed her fellow paladins enter and walk toward her. When she turned to face them, she noticed two things. First, Allura, Coran, Alpha team, and Iverson were with them. Second, every single one of them appeared sad. Shaking her head, she thought of a way to make them happy.

Smiling as she spotted Keith, Pidge tried her best to tone down her excitement. “So, I got up early this morning and stopped by Green’s hanger…”

Keith’s eyes intensified on her as he spoke. “Pidge, please sit. We need to talk to you. Last night, we…”

“Wait. So I was thinking, dangerous I know.” Her wink directed at her brother made him scowl, but she went back to typing on a nearby screen. “Going from ship to ship downloading data is slow and dangerous. Not to mention, some of it is out of date or we don’t get the full file. We have to find an easier way.” She stopped typing and brought up a map of the nearby sector of space. Red dots only littered a few planets, but everyone knew these were estimated locations. “However, when we split up last time…” She paused when she noticed Lance flinch. “We went to download files on that Galra ship as we looked for the Black Bayard, I thought of how we communicate. The lions communicate to us, and we communicate to them. I mean we are using our quintessence in a way but…”

Matt moved next to his sister, and placed his hand on her shoulder. “Pidge, please listen, your rambling. We need to talk to you about…”

“You won’t believe this. I think I figured out a way to track the Galra and locate specific people.” As her words sunk in, her smile widened. “Listen. Awhile back, we used blip tech, Biothermal Life Indicator Point Technology, but we had to go into danger in order to put them to use. Also, the range needed improvement.” 

Matt frown deepened as her smile was nearly criminal making her continue. “Every ship communicates or signals each other, like when we talk when we are in our lions. The lions send signals, impulses, or feelings to us and they can feel ours. So, how do the Galra communicate to each other? Can we tap into their signal and use it against them?”

Hunk’s eyes sparked with understanding as he moved closer to the map. “You placed a hidden subroutine within their signal, and explained to the computer how to read it. Pidge, you are a genius.”

Her bother was less amused as he slid his hand down her shoulder so he could hold her hand. “Why are you encouraging her? Pidge, listen we need to talk…” 

“Matt, Matt, Matt.” Her amber eyes gleamed with mischief. “Here let me show you the great power of your sister.” The screen came alive with red dots, green dots and three blue dots in different locations. She pointed as she spoke. “The green dots are planets or ships the Galra do not control. The red dots are the Galra. The first blue dot all… the way… over there is Shiro.” At his name, she heard several people take in a sharp breath, but she continued. “The blue dot not too far away, but near all the red dots is our buddy Thace.” She dared a glance at Keith and found him in turmoil. “The blue dot closest to us is Dad; notice he has very few red dots around him.” Disbelief and shock replaced whatever emotion the team felt before, which widened her smile.

Studying the dot that represented his dad, Matt found his voice. “How sure are you that it is him?”

Pidge felt happy she could bring her dad home, but it was better that Matt was present. “When, we first entered the ship it scanned our life signs. In addition, anyone that has spent time in a pod has a file as well. I used our information to find Dad. From what I understand from the technology, I’m about ninety-three percent sure that little dot is dad.” Matt never looked at her as he stared at the dot, making Pidge smile at her brother.

Her goal was close, but she remembered Matt came here with a purpose. “What did you want to talk to me about?”

Clearing his throat, Lance moved his head to a weird angle, but it meant something to Matt. The two paladins kept giving each other looks, debating what to say. Lance took the opportunity to beat Matt to a response. “We can talk about it later. Do you have a plan?”

Smirking to her friends, Pidge felt a small chuckle bubble in her. “I have an idea, but we may need to make a few changes. So, you remember when we had to steal the ball from the Alpha team?” 

Lance smirked back at her, happy to see her old spark was back. “You mean when you cheated.”

“Hey, I took their ball fair and square.” Smiling at her the other paladins confusion, Pidge looked over at Iverson. “No one said, I couldn’t use trickery to win. I had my paladin armor and I was the one that adapted it recently. It is not my fault that no one knew I have stealth capability.” 

Hunk laughed as he playfully bumped Lance’s side. “You adapted your suit to match Green’s stealth and can go invisible!” 

Lance glanced back at Hunk. “What? No, she made a double image of herself and fooled them into thinking she was in one place when she was in another. She did that before when the castle was under attack.”

“Actually, I did both.”

 

Three hours later, the paladins and the Alpha team had landed on a planet with a large compound below them in a valley. As they sat on the ridge everyone was eerily quiet, that was except Pidge and Matt. Security of heavily armed Galra guarded the entrance; on the side of the complex, a few soldiers paced the sides.

Matt kept his sister within arm’s length through their discussion and traveling to his planet. Lance would raise his eyebrows in a questioning way, but Matt was glad he never spoke. Sarcasm laced his words as Matt watched Pidge bring up the planet’s map again. “So, this place looks peaceful.”

Pidge found it comforting that at least Matt tried to use humor to break the tension. Although, she suspected the paladin, Matt included, hid something from her. She pulled up the map of the area and displayed the different colored spots to indicate the location of everyone. Once she spotted a weak point, the Green paladin pointed to the sidewall. “Here, if we time it right, we can sneak in here and move along this wall. After Alpha team is in position, we can enter here and get to our package quickly.”

Jeff spoke more to Keith than anyone else. “I do not like us splitting up. Your team should stay here and use cover fire as support.”

Beating Keith to speaking, Lance had to support the Holt plan after all they are a team. “Look, next time we will let you take all the fame and glory. But right now, leave the important stuff to us.” To rub in Jeff’s defeat, Lance winked, which causing Jeff to scowl. Of course, it made Lance smile deepen.

The youngest paladin, Pidge, stopped the fight before it could get out of hand. “Guys, stop fighting, my dad is there. You two can measure yourselves later.” Her comment stopped them cold. She focused on Keith and her brother as she spoke this time. “Are we ready?”

“Yes.” Keith said as he moved over to the edge and peered down. “Unless you ladies, want to turn back.” He winked at Pidge letting her in on his joke, and then slid down into the valley.

A chuckle came out of Pidge as Lance jumped up. The red paladin looked over the edge and mumbled to himself. “Show off.” Then, Lance followed behind Keith right after he nodded at both Holts.

The remaining paladins and Alpha team followed toward the building without complaint. Each person took their position and waited for the signal from Keith to do their part.

Once Keith pointed to Pidge, she smiled and tapped her armband. Matt and Lance mirrored her motion and in a flash, the three paladins images disappeared. Keith and Hunk moved closer to the wall while the other three disabled the guard. The paladins made their way into the building, with the invisible ones in front. 

Working their way through the corridor, the reading from Sam Holt stated he was nearby, but the signal was not pinpoint accurate. They had two doors left to try so Matt and Hunk took one side, Lance and Pidge took the other, with Keith standing guard. Matt opened the door and then they went inside. 

Pidge opened the door and Lance went in first, only their room was empty. Nodding to Lance, Pidge checked the room for anything they may have over looked. She noticed a flashing symbol on a nearby panel and moved in closer. Noises from the hall caused Lance to run to the door. By the time Pidge stood next to him, they saw Matt was visible again. 

Matt helped his dad walk toward the exit with Keith in front of them and Hunk blocking their exit. Lance dropped his invisibility and moved to help Matt, but Pidge beat him to his destination. Keeping her cool, she slid to Sam’s opposite side and helped him walk.

As the team saw the exit and the Alpha team, Keith stopped. Turning his body around, Keith motioned for them to move as he pulled his knife. “Move, now!” Grabbing a soldier that stood close to Hunk, Keith pulled his knife and swung toward the man’s head.

Hunk blocked the team back, but Lance saw the moment Jeff let one of the soldiers slip past him. Lance pulled his Bayard and it transformed into a sword, starling Lance for a moment. Realizing his mistake, Lance raced to place himself between Holt family and the soldier. 

When the soldier raised his gun to fire, Lance leapt in the path, but threw his sword toward his attacker. The sword struck the shooter about the same time as Lance went down.

Pidge heard Keith yelling something as Hunk moved toward them, but then everything went quiet. Someone, the female on the Alpha team Matt called Ginger, yanked Pidge’s arm and got her moving again. 

A few feet from the extraction point, Pidge realized Matt and Hunk had her dad, Keith had a cut on his arm, and a big guy helped Lance move closer to them. She did not see any wound on Lance, but something was wrong.

Jeff stared at Matt as he spoke as if he was asking for forgiveness. “Matt, I’m sorry, I didn’t see the… I’m to protect the paladins, lend support, protect them. When he...” Turning his head, Jeff spotted the other Holts. “I’m sorry, he had to...”

For a second, Pidge had a hard time computing what had happened. Next thing she knew, they made it to the castle racing toward the cryo pods. When they stopped, Pidge watched as Matt convinced their dad to get into the pod in front of Coran. 

Entering a pod on his own free will made Matt smile at his dad. “I promise, I have a good surprise for you when you wake up.” Both Holts glanced at Lance, making Matt frown. “Lance is a survivor and I will tell you his story when you wake up.” 

“I look forward to knowing your friends, son.” Smiling at his son, Sam nodded and closed his eyes. 

When sleep took over Sam, Matt marched over to his sister’s side. As soon as Lance was safe in his pod, Matt spoke softly to his sister. “I’m sorry. I should have forced you to talk to me this morning. Everyone was on edge and I didn’t want to ruin your good mood.”

Surveying the room, Pidge focused on her brother. “Why was that Matt? What did you want to talk to me about this morning?” 

Matt let her have it. “Last night, I couldn’t sleep, so I went to Green’s hanger to find out what you were hiding from me. Lance came in to check on me and gave me an idea of how to break your password. I opened a video file and before I knew it Keith and Hunk had joined us.” Looking at her face, Matt knew his sister struggled to know which file. “We saw everything that happened from the time you exited the wormhole, up until you woke up after the planet transformation.”

Swing hard and fast Pidge’s hand made a resounding smack as it encountered Matt’s face causing his head jerk to the side. “How could you? You invaded my files?” Her voice carried around the room.

Matt slowly raised his eyes to meet hers as he continued. “I’m sorry. While we were watching Allura, Coran and Iverson joined us. This morning, we talked about how to tell you. We thought it best to tell the Alpha team.” He saw it coming, but did not block. 

Her hand balled into a fist from her anger of her fellow paladins seeing her death. With all her strength, Pidge plunged her hand into Matt’s face. She was thankful that when Matt fell back and stayed on the ground. “Why don’t you tell the whole ship about your freak sister? My sister is a short, silly little child, who dresses like a boy, and needs someone to watch over her! Oh yeah, and she came back from the dead too! Want to see the planet she brought back from extinction?” 

She leaned down toward him and waiting for eye contact, once she saw his eyes, she felt her anger subside. When he saw her eyes tear up, Matt lowered his eyes. “Watching the video almost broke us, all of us. We just want you to be happy again. You have your whole life ahead of you.”

“Happy? All I wanted was you to come home, Matt. Things changed when you disappeared, I changed.” Pidge thought about the video and how Green kept saying sorry, she theorized her fellow paladins felt the same.

Low and broken, Matt whispered to his sister. “I just wanted to figure out what was bothering you.” At the sound of her footsteps, Matt looked up to watch her walk out.

She did not stop at the door, Pidge kept moving away from her fellow paladins. Moving without purpose, she avoiding any of the hangers and any castle inhabits. Her feet carried her out of the castle and into the forest. The deeper into the forest she moved, the safer she felt. Like it or not, this place felt like her home.

Falling to her knees in front of a large tree, she placed her face in her hands. “They all see me as a kid, as a little girl. I don’t need them pitying or judging me.” Tears fell to the ground as she kneeled in her private place.

A sweet cool breeze passed causing Pidge to take her head out of her hands. She yawned at the remarkable smell as her eyes closed. “If only I could show them. I wish they would see the real me.” Lowering her body to the ground, she had a nagging feeling she should go back to the castle. Instead, she closed her eyes and went to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another Holt found, but what about the other dots?


	10. Awakening

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance and Pidge wake up.

Disorientation was a symptom from the cryo pods, but Lance always experienced changes around him. First, Pidge was a girl and the castle was a ship. Second, even if Lance found out later, Pidge had died, and transformed a planet. Third time is the charm, right? Well, Lance was a little sad to see Matt with a black eye. Between missing her sarcasm and quick wit, Lance felt responsible for prying into Pidge’s life.

Keith, Hunk, and Matt sat waiting for Lance, but they looked like he felt.

Trying to sound playful, Lance sat next to Matt and ignored Keith and Hunk. “So, where is our heavy weight champ?” Matt winced made Lance tried a different tactic as Lance glanced around the room. “How is your Dad?”

Emotionless as he spoke, Matt stared straight ahead, as the words came out of his mouth. “Good, I guess. He asked about Shiro. Dad knew Keith from the stories Shiro told him. Iverson agreed to take him to get food and show him around.” 

Hunk saved the Blue paladin from explaining more as he took over. “He asked when you would wake and he wanted to thank the little green one as well. Jeff almost bit Mr. Holt’s face, but Allura stopped him.”

“How long was I in there?” Lance asked more to himself than the others.

Keith smirked before answering. “Only ten hours, you’re personal best time. Are you going for a record of who can go in the most?”

Lance chuckled as he bumped Matt. “I have to own the record.” He waited a moment before he would ask a question, but Matt turned to face him, making Lance wince.

“She was so mad. I had never seen her that mad. She stormed out of the castle and into the forest.” He wrung his hands together. “She thought… she thought we thought of her as small, weak, someone who needed watching over.”

Lance formed a comforting smile at Matt. “Then, let’s tell her she is wrong.” When Keith chuckled, Lance continued. “It’s time for Mr. Holt to meet Pidge.”

Shaking his head, Matt stood. “Can you guys stop calling him, Mr. Holt? His name is Sam.” Helping Lance stand out, Matt noticed Keith and Hunk followed. “Let’s go find Pidge.”

No one bothered them as they walked out of the castle, almost as if the entire castle knew to keep clear. Once they entered the forest, they found a small path that led them deeper into the forest. As they traveled in silence, each one focused on what they wanted to say to the Green paladin. After all, she did give each of them a goodbye statement. After a half hour of walking, they came to a very large tree with a person curled up in ball at the roots.

Matt leaned down to shake her arm. “Katie? Hey, it’s Matt. Wake up. We wanted to talk to you.” Shaking her arm again, Matt was a little rougher than the first time. “Pidge? I want you to hear my final words.”

As Pidge stretched out and rolled over to her back, but she never woke up. However, her fellow paladins noticed changes in her immediately. Her body grew a good six to eight inches in length, her hair was down past her shoulders, and her body had curves where she had little before.

When realization struck, Matt pulled her into his arms and stood up. His voice sounded protective and irate at the same time. “We need to get her to the castle, whatever happened; she needs to get to the castle so the pod can fix her.” She shifted in his arms and he almost dropped her, which caused Hunk to pull her into his arms.

Concentrating on her face, Hunk kept his voice low as if he would wake her. “She is heavier than I expected.”

“You tell her that when she is awake and you will end up with a black eye.” Matt hissed in response and then he turned to leave. “Let’s go.”

Periodically, Pidge moved in her sleep causing Hunk to shift her into a new position. She never woke up, but she would mumble things about being short, or young, which caused the male paladins to grumble. 

Once the castle was in view, Keith took off at a dead run to get Coran. As they entered, Allura ran toward them with her arms stretched out. Hunk transferred Pidge to Allura. The princess ran to the med bay leaving the paladins to trail behind. 

Matt stopped dead in his tracks at his dad’s voice as Iverson and his dad turned the corner. ”Matt, I heard your friend is sick.” Sam changed his tone when he noticed the red paladin and held out his hand for a greeting. “Oh, but I see you have made a recovery. Thank you for protecting us. Lance, right?”

Unable to make eye contact, Lance shook Sam’s hand quickly. “Yes, sir. I’m Lance the Red paladin of Voltron.”

“Dad? I don’t know how to tell you this, but the Green paladin is sick, and…”

Smiling at his son, Sam put his hand on his shoulder to comfort his son. “It’s okay Matt, I know you are worried about your friend.”

“Dad… Katie is the Green paladin.” Matt watched as confusion replaced the joy on his father’s face followed by pain. Matt knew his sister wanted to tell their father, but she lost the right to tell him. “She thought we were dead, so she broke into the Garrison to see the video of the Kerberos mission.” Sam step back causing his hand to fall to his side. “When Iverson caught her, she came up with a plan to dress as a boy and expose them for fraud. Only, she ended up here.” 

Lance snapped them back to reality when he spoke with a harsh tone. “We should check on Pidge and find out if she is awake.” He tried to move around them, but Sam blocked his path. 

When the Sam Holt would not move, Lance looked up and gave him his best stare. “She is a valuable member of Voltron, and we would not be here without her. I’m sure you are upset, but we need to make sure everything is okay.” Stepping to the side, Lance moved around Sam and then Iverson.

Matt and Sam exchanged strange looks when they arrived outside the med bay, but neither said a word. Jeff and Ginger stood outside the door and they would not let Keith pass.

“Move. I will not tell you again.” Keith balled his fist ready to hit Jeff until Lance stepped between them. “Why are we not allowed in?”

Ginger held up her hands in a calming gesture and kept her voice low. “Please calm down and have a seat. Allura is with her right now.”

Keith did not move. “Why can’t we go in?”

Hunk gently pulled on Keith’s arm. “Pidge is a girl, she would want privacy.” Dropping into the nearest chair, Hunk motioned for Keith to sit. “As leader of Voltron, this is not your fault.”

In protest, Keith sat by the walkway away from Hunk. “I should have followed her, made her talk to me. I should have made her come back to the castle.” 

Everyone turned to Sam, when he laughed loudly. His voice held an air of mischief. “My daughter is as stubborn as they come. She would not tolerate someone treating her less than an equal. Looking back, I now understand why you have a black eye Matt. What did you do to your sister? What did you call her, Pidge?”

“Can we talk later? It is a long story and right now, none of us want to relive it.” The moment his dad nodded, Matt changed the subject. “Dad, I want you to…”

The door opened to the med bay opened and Allura walked out. She scanned everyone, but her eyes stopped on Matt. “Pidge is awake, but wants to be alone.”

Shrugging his shoulders, Lance moved past Ginger and Allura and stepped into the room. He spotted Pidge sitting on a bed with her hands in her lap and almost turned around. Moving to her right side, he sat on the bed next to her. He heard the others follow, but he did not look at them. 

She whispered more to herself than the others. “I just wanted everyone to see me.”

Lance smirked at the smaller paladin and whispered back. “We always saw you, but you never want to let people into that brain of yours. We are not computers.”

“Katie?” Her eyes snapped to his as Sam moved closer. “How are you feeling?”

“Old.” When she saw the other flinch, Pidge thought about her words. “I was upset yesterday and went out into the forest to think. I wished…” She felt her body sway slightly, but when Lance caught her, she felt better. “I wished they would see the real me.” A tear escaped her eye, but she wiped it away quickly. 

Confused as he spoke, Hunk moved closer to the bed. “The real you is a 16 year old girl?”

Shaking his head, Sam answered for her. “No, but I assume your friends stopped you from your goal. Am I wrong?” Shaking her head no, Sam continued. “Tell me why you hit your brother.”

A few moments passed in silence, making Lance answer for the Holt siblings. “She made this planet into a beautiful oasis.” At the confused look on Sam’s face and the mortified look of the Holt siblings, Lance thought it best to rip that Band-Aid clean off. “Her quintessence combined with the planet’s quintessence when she died.” Pidge dropped her head in her hands, but Lance continued. “It is like her life force and she combined with the planet and she healed it. So, it brought her back and now it made her a sixteen year old? Does that make sense?”

Sam moved closer to Lance, but kept an eye on his daughter. “I would like everyone to leave the room please, well except my children. Oh and of course Lance.” 

It was amazing how fast people could move when properly motivated and Lance guessed that was Sam’s goal. “Why do I need to stay?” He found three sets of amber eyes eyeing him. “This seems like a family conversation.”

Sam eased back from the three paladins and moved to the end of the bed. “Easy Lance, you are a bigger part of this than you realize.”

Protectiveness made Matt move to sit on Pidge’s left and snap at his dad. “Don’t. Dad, don’t.”

Placing her hand over Matt’s arm, she felt herself relax. “I wanted to tell you, I wanted to tell everyone what happened on this planet, but then I would have to explain what I felt.” Taking a deep breath, Pidge placed her other hand on Lance’s arm. “Dad, I recorded my death…”

“Of course you did.” Sam said as he sat at the end of the bed.

A small smile graced her lips as she continued. “I wanted to say my goodbyes and I did not have a lot of time. So, I had Green, my lion, record them. She wanted us to try to find the castle, but it was too far. I wanted her to go on without me.” After another deep breath, she looked at Lance. “I wanted to say goodbye to everyone, but I couldn’t. I didn’t know why until yesterday. Why I was so angry with this planet and my place in it.”

Considering his next move, Lance examined her hand on his arm. “You were wrong in the video. I would not say empty words about you, everything around you would have meaning. But you were right in assuming I would not make a move on you. Any man worth his salt would not mess with a fourteen year old girl, no matter how smart and pretty she was.” He thought for a second about a moment they shared. “Were you mad at me for calling you twelve?”

In a poor attempt at sarcasm, Pidge responded with the first thing that popped in her head. “I’m not twelve or fourteen anymore.”

Her words did not sit well with Lance, but he understood why. She wanted to make a joke out of her transformation, but Lance was not ready to let this conversation drop. “No, you’re sixteen.” 

“It was a joke Lance.” She pulled her hand back from both paladins and scowled.

Lance watched her face and then looked over at Sam. “This isn’t a joke. Sir, I would like to date your daughter.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Honestly, I did not expect the story to take this turn. But I am loving it. Keith is next and we know he is hiding a secret and we can't forget about Shiro.  
> Enjoy.


	11. Leadership

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Time for Keith to face the truth. How will his fellow paladin react?  
> How will he when he comes face to face with his past?

Keith was already in a sour mood. Everyone was acting crazy, keeping secrets, and two of the paladins had black eyes because of a third paladin. Keith walked into the med bay for many reasons. First, Matt’s black eye. Second, Lance’s black eye. Third, and most important, the two dots Pidge had pointed out on the screen yesterday, Shiro and Thace.

Sam stood next to Pidge as she stayed in her bed. Neither Holt heard him enter; if they did, they did not acknowledge his presence. “You will apologize to Lance.” 

“Dad, he should have…”

Sam’s tone softened as he reached for his daughter. “Katie, you owe him an apology. I know he shocked you, but hitting is wrong.”

Keith cleared his throat and moved closer into the room. “I don’t mean to interrupt, but I wanted to talk to Pidge.”

“Katie, we are not done with our conversation.” Smiling sweetly, Sam turned from Pidge to face Keith. “Keith, you are doing great. You are in a tough spot, assuming Shiro’s role. Remember, somethings are beyond your control.” Nodding to Keith, Sam left. 

His impulsive nature returned as Keith answered. “I can see why everyone likes him, tough, but fair.”

Her eyes drilled a hole into him as she spoke. “Why are you here? Come to tell me I should apologize to Matt or Lance?”

He move to the left side of her bed and sat facing her. “No. Matt, did pry into your files. I understand it was the wrong to hit him, but he loves you. He worried about your behavior. We all did, especially, Lance.” She looked away at the mention of Lance’s name, which made Keith know he was on the right path. “I was more concerned when you hit Lance. What did he do?” Since she stayed quiet, Keith verbally pushed back. “Your dad thinks you should apologize to him.”

Wringing her hands in her lap, she did not dare to look at him. A chuckle from Keith made her look up with a scowl on her face. “What?”

“He gets so distracted when we are on missions, it might be good for you to help him find focus.” When her scowl deepened and she balled his fists, Keith smiled. “He may need you to keep him from being like me. As the red paladin, I was always getting into trouble. Remember when I left to find out what was in those barrels?” She nodded yes, so he continued. “I injured my hand, and when I spilled pure quintessence on it, the wound healed. In addition, I did go after Zarkon and Red paid the price.”

“Did you really come here to talk about Matt and Lance?”

Shaking his head no, Keith knew to set an example. “My real reason is the location software you made. You found Shiro and his dot moved closer to a planet with very little Galra activity.” The question lingered in his mind for a moment, but Keith had to ask. “How did you know about Thace?”

A soft knock on the door, followed by the door swinging open, was Hunk’s greeting as he walked in with a tray of food. “Hope you’re hun… gry.” He set the tray down and turned to leave, but in walked Matt and Lance. Hunk appeared torn between Lance and Matt arrival and interrupting Keith and Pidge. Hoping to ease the tension, Hunk opened his mouth to say something to Keith.

Keith did not look at the new arrivals, nor did he move. “Matt, close and lock the door. Pidge, answer the question.”

She leaned back against her pillow and sighed. “Did you know your dagger has an inscription on it? I took a picture of it once with Green’s help. Then, I translated it.” Now it was her turn to watch him be uncomfortable. “Between the information I found in the computer and Green, I missed a couple of important pieces. Without meaning too, Coran filled in some missing blanks of who use to be in power before…” She took a deep breath and had a hard time making eye contact.

Clearly frustrated, Hunk reached for Pidge’s hand. 

She pulled away and kept focus on her hands as she spoke. “Before Zarkon took over, the Galra leader was a member of the royal family. The next in line for the throne was the son, similar to a Commander, in the Galra army. Only, he was in love with a woman, who was not of Galra blood. Zarkon told the current leader, he would not kill the son if Zarkon became ruler. To prove Zarkon’s oath, they performed a ritual, which prevents Zarkon from harming the son. Meanwhile, Zarkon’s son, Lotor, plotted to kill the son, but only succeeded in killing the leader of the royal family. The son went into hiding with his new bride.”

Matt scratched his head and held up his hand. When Pidge became quiet, he spoke. “All this was on Keith’s dagger?”

Pidge continued as if Matt had no spoke at all. “The leader that Lotor killed was Keith’s grandfather. Thace was the son that went into hiding, and he hid his wife on Earth. Actually, Thace and his wife were in cryo pods for centuries, hoping to wake when Zarkon died. Something must have gone wrong and they woke up early. From what I gathered, Thace believed his wife and child was dead.”

Letting out the breath he held, Lance dropped his body into the chair next to the food and took a cookie. “Okay, Hunk, what are you hiding? Do you have a kid somewhere? You’re gay and afraid we wouldn’t accept you? You are really an alien? What?” Glancing around the room at the shocked and angry faces, Lance took a bite of the cookie and swallowed loudly. “What? Pidge died, she became two years old, Keith is half Galra, Matt never sleeps, and I want to know what Hunk is hiding.”

“I ate a whole twenty-two pound turkey once, does that count?” Hunk peered at Lance and when he smiled, Hunk smiled back. 

Not meaning too, Pidge chuckled. She then whispered an apology. Hunk moved the tray away from Lance and next to Pidge. She picked up a peanut butter cookie and took a bite. 

Keith smiled at her, but then turned to Matt. Thinking a second, Keith tried to sound like a leader they deserved. “Why won’t you sleep? Do you have flashbacks?” 

“Sh’ro us’d to…”

Again, Keith smiled at her. “Pidge, don’t talk with your mouth full. Shiro used to have flashbacks. For all we know, your dad will have them too. We are a team, no more secrets. I didn’t want to believe I was Galra, but even Zarkon made comments about how I fight. I trust this team to be there, it is time each of us, do the same.”

As Lance reached for another cookie, Pidge gave him a murderess glare. Shrugging his shoulders, Lance sat back in his chair. “When we were on the Balmera, you used your hand on the Galra controls and it worked. Only Shiro could get Galra panels to work, but only because of his arm.”

Keeping his voice low but even, Matt spoke. “After I separated from Shiro, they experimented on me. They would strap me to a bed and the witch would come into the room and… I can’t sleep in that room, it reminds me of…”

“Saltwater.” Lance stared at the cookie in his hand that he stole when no one noticed. “You should make the room smell like saltwater, like the ocean. I mean, you are the Guardian Spirit of the ocean. Also, talk to Blue right before bed, it always helped me.”

Keith smirked. “Sounds like a plan.” Rubbing his chin with his hand, Keith examined Lance’s face. “Now onto why we are here, Matt, Hunk and I will go after Shiro and possibly Thace. Lance, you set up Matt’s room while we are gone.” Keith noticed Lance was about to argue until he realize Keith’s plan. “Matt, if you still feel uncomfortable, we will think of something.” Dropping his hand to his side, Keith lowered his voice. “Pidge, do you think you can try to locate Lotor? If Zarkon was a paladin then…”

“The castle would have a record of it. I will need my computer; then Green and I can be ready to leave in a matter of minutes.”

“No. You can work from the castle with Sam and Lance. The rest of us will take the Alpha team and bring back whomever we find.” Shiro always made the team feel their worth, but Keith was not a natural with people. It was time Keith started to step up. “This is not a punishment, Pidge. After watching the video, I wanted you to know you are a valued member of this team and like a sister to me. There will be times we will all have to face danger, it is part of being a paladin, but we all need to learn to lean on each other. Shiro made us a team once. We will be a team again.”

“Thanks, Keith. I didn’t mean to keep the truth from you. I just didn’t know how to tell you.” Her voice sounded small, in that moment, she was anything but small. “Lance, we should have a plant in the hydroponics bay to help setup a saltwater aquarium.” She jumped out of bed and ran to the door. Spinning around, she ignored her brother’s flinch. “Before you leave, I will convert my program to a smaller version and load it onto the device on your wrist. You can use it for tracking once you get there.” She turned to leave, but stopped. “Keith, I may be wrong, but right before we were kicked out of the wormhole and we were trapped behind the barrier…” She faced him and gave a small smile. “Thace double crossed Zarkon and lowered the barrier to aid our escape. He risked everything to save the paladins. If he didn’t know you are alive, I think we should find him and tell him.” This time, she turned and left.

 

Three hours later, two dots represented Shiro and Thace. Only, one dot sat insolated in the center of ship and the other appeared to move around on the ship’s bridge. The bridge was almost the farthest spot from their current location. Near the isolated dot was a cluster, twenty or more, of pink dots that moved around in a larger room. Dots, which represented the Galra, moved in a pattern up and down the halls.

Glancing at the group, Keith kept his voice low. “If we move toward both dots simultaneously, we should be able to grab both.”

Jeff whispered back. “Why are we bringing this Galra soldier Thace with us? Do we want to put the castle and Voltron into danger if he is evil?”

Matt jerked his elbow into Jeff’s side, but tried to keep his voice low as he spoke. “Look not all Galra are evil, just like not all Earthlings are nice.” When Keith frowned at him, Matt appeared confused. “What? It’s true.” Matt chuckled before he spoke. “Not all paladins are calm and level-headed.” 

“Enough.” Keith took a breath and let it slowly out. “Jeff, lead your group to the bridge and we will go after the other dot.” Jeff’s face told everyone he wanted to argue, but Keith knew he would keep quiet. Once Jeff and his team left, Keith noticed the strange look on Hunk and Matt. He signaled to them to start moving down the hall, the hallway. 

They could hear footsteps ahead and stepped into the cover of darkness against the wall. 

Keith saw Matt’s look of panic and stepped next to the blue paladin. Keeping is voice low; Keith used what he learned from watching Shiro. “Hey, just breath, slow deep breaths.” Matt squeezed his eyes and Keith worried this was too extreme for him. 

Then, the soldier turned the corner and travelled toward them. The Galra fell into a rhythmic sequence as he walked, but never noticed the paladins. Once he past the paladins by a few steps, he stopped. Then, out of no-where, the soldier started shaking. He dropped his weapon and clutched his chest. Crying out, the Galra dropped to the floor and stopped moving.

Checking if the soldier was dead, Keith glanced at Matt. “Are you okay?” Matt placed his hand over his heart as if to calm himself as he nodded yes making Keith move closer. Motioning to Hunk, Keith grabbed Matt’s arm and lead him down the hall. 

Arriving at the outside door of the room, Hunk heard a commotion down the hall. Signaling Keith and Matt to prepare for soldiers, the Yellow paladin stepped into the shadows. Hunk watched the other two follow his lead as they hid.

Three armed Galra soldiers turned the corner with their injured Galra prisoner. One of soldiers pushed the prisoner to the floor as another positioned himself by the cell door. Placing his hand on the plate next to the door, he spoke. “Who do you think Zarkon will kill first the Champion or our prince here?”

Laughing in response, the second soldier kicked the prisoner as his voice filled with venom. “I wish they were both dead, but Zarkon can’t kill the prince without dying himself. As for Champion, he will be bait to bring the paladins to us.” Turning to the third soldier, as the cell door opened, he spoke. “What do you think?”

“Get him in the cell and stop talking. I don’t want either of them in my sight.” His face scrunched in disgust as he stood over the prisoner. “Get up.” After one kick of the downed prisoner, a small wind traveled down the hallway. Drowned out by the wind, the prisoner groaned as the two guards closest to him fell backwards onto the ground with a crash. 

A black blur flew by as the remaining soldier moved toward his fellow fallen soldiers. “Hey, what the…” Some force threw him into the wall, knocking him out.

Once the guard moved away from the open door, Matt slipped inside the cell. Hunk ran over to check on the prisoner and the guards. All the while, Keith stood against the wall as if he was frozen.

Hunk picked up the prisoner and moved him next to Keith. Keeping his voice low, Hunk made sure to get eye contact before he spoke. “Keith, can you watch him? I will take the soldiers in the room and help Matt.” Nodding yes, Hunk carefully set the man down next to Keith and went to work. 

Keith would have sat next to the man until Matt stumbled out carrying Shiro. “We don’t have time, we have to go.”

Just then, the Alpha team appeared from the same direction the Galra soldiers came. Jeff signaled to his team which areas to cover as he scanned each paladin. “Ginger, help Matt with Shiro.” Pointing to the prisoner, Jeff spoke to Keith. “This the prince Pidge spoke of?” Hunk mumbled yes for Keith so Jeff signaled to the biggest member of Alpha team. “For this, he stays with us. Rocky, be gentle. We will check his injuries when we get back.”

Standing up, Keith stared down Rocky. “I will take him.”

Rocky step back not liking to look in Keith’s eyes, making Jeff step between them. “Keith, those pink dots we talked about, they are in the room right there.” He pointed to the room directly behind Keith. “The soldiers said they will be executed upon arrival. I say, we add them to our list of survivors. What about you?” 

Snapping out of his daze, Keith moved over to the door and placed his hand on the plate. The door opened automatically and turned on the light in the room. The prisoners moved away from the Keith, but he continued into the room anyway. “We can take all of you someplace safe.” 

Keith kept the shiver to himself when he noticed the younger aliens, though something bothered him. The prisoners appeared to be different species of varying size, color, and age. It was if, they hid something important in plain sight. “Please come with us, we don’t have time to...”

Briefly, the ship rocked. Then, alarms blared. 

Jeff helped a sick prisoner up and snapped at Keith. “Keith, we need to leave now.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the late update.  
> Enjoy the story.


	12. Homecoming

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith, Hunk and Matt make it back, but who or what did they bring with them.

Quickly moving to their transport, Hunk had a feeling something was wrong. For a moment, he wished Lance and Pidge were here. Arriving at the transport a thought crossed his mind about that being too easy. Even with the tight fit, they all made it inside. 

The wormhole to the castle appeared and the transport made a beeline inside. Only, when they exited, the screen lit up to indicate they had company. Jeff yelled over the crew. “Everyone hold on, this will be bump… y.” Rocking to the side made several groan as the pilot fought to keep control. 

Landing right outside the castle, Hunk felt the ground shake as if something else landed on the planet surface. “Please tell me what was that?”

Keith helped up Hunk and then they walked to the door. “Let’s get to our lions, sounds like we might need Voltron.” While the Alpha team helped everyone else, the paladins made a run for the castle. 

Stopping in his tracks, Matt grabbed Keith and pointed into the air. The three lions shielded the transport as they surrounded their paladins. Warm and happy, Matt spoke to his lion as he approached. “Cool trick, Blue. Gotta say, I love it.” He broke out into a run as Red streaked past the team on the ground. 

Hunk ran to Yellow and noticed Green zip by heading in the same direction as Red. “Not good, not good. Hey their big guy, we need to catch up.” Rounding to his seat, Hunk thought he heard Yellow complain about moving as fast as possible when Hunk heard another rumble outside. Getting into the air, Hunk’s screen filled with Lance’s face.

The Red lion hit the side of a spider causing it to lose focus on the transport. Rearing it’s head toward Red, Lance yelled at his fellow paladins. “What did you bring with you? Is that one of the Galra’s beasts?” As the spider’s eyes glowed orange, Lance moved Red closer to the forest.

While distracted by Lance, Pidge used this moment to use Green’s mouth dagger to cut off one of the legs. However, the spider saw her coming and turned on her, so it lunged toward her and spun a web in her direction. Green gracefully adjusted left, but the spider’s web caught her right front leg. Pidge jerk her lion left with no success. “Hey, this is not working. This stuff is sticky and Green can’t break free.”

Lance used Red’s fire breath to break the webbing as Hunk lands Yellow on the top of the spider making it angrier. Yelling to the group, Hunk tried to stay calm. “I think I made it mad. This is not a good idea.”

Blue covers the spider with ice just enough for Hunk to break free giving him a chance to escape.

Commanding, but using a civilized tone, Keith addressed the other paladins. “Let’s form Voltron and slice this spider to bits. Pidge, are you free?”

Leaping away from the spider, Green took to the air with Pidge mumbling a yes. When she caught up with the others, the ice around the spider started cracking. 

Five lions took to the sky to formed Voltron; they formed the massive robot and landed between the castle and the spider. Once they landed, the spider broke from the ice prison while Voltron formed the flaming sword.

After shaking off the ice, the spider jumped toward Voltron. Swinging toward the spider, Voltron barely missed their target because the spider turned left. Shaking his head, Keith hit his panel. “That thing is fast. Do we have any ideas?”

Venom dripped from its teeth as it rounded for another attack so Pidge engaged the shield right before impact. Lance had enough time to cut one leg off before it jumped away, but it was clear from the sensors, Voltron could not take much more venom. 

Trying, but failing to sound confident, Hunk felt Yellow agree to the plan. “Guys? If we use Yellow’s multi-blast attack, we could kill it.” When no one disagreed, Hunk used his Bayard and made the gun come to life. Targeting the body and the legs, he fired. 

Two more legs came off, but the thing reared back in anger. It charged at Voltron at full speed and landed on Voltron’s chest successfully knocking them to the ground. Spitting venom at the head and the left arm, the spider was slow to dodge as Lance stabbed the spider’s side. Rolling to the ground, venom poured out of the spider’s wound. 

Voltron stood, leapt into the air, and squashed the spider. The paladins rejoiced. 

Before the lions could detach, Hunk noticed a strange smell. “I think we have a problem, the venom or whatever, is really strong. I think it is making me sick. Can we wash it off? What about the ocean?”

Weak but still talking, Pidge answered. “No, we could spread it into our systems deeper. Our best bet is to get our lions into their bays. Each one can be examined and fixed.”

 

Ten minutes later, everything was in chaos as Hunk entered the med bay. Shiro and Thace stood a few feet from Keith as Coran kept pushing the Black paladin to sit on the edge of the table. The prisoners and Alpha team littered the other side of the room as each of the new arrivals went through a physical. The room was full of action and noise so no one noticed Hunk.

Iverson and a few of the ex-teachers worked with Coran prepping the pods. So far, the new arrivals were not in critical need of a pod, which was great considering they did not look as if they liked this process. 

Normally, Shiro's commanding presence and tone was enough to convince Keith to do anything. "Keith, try to understand, everything will be okay. You need to get that stuff out of your lungs." However, Shiro was unable to convince the paladin. "Why won't you listen to reason?"

Keith left his seat when he spotted Hunk, his steps swift as he approached Hunk. "Are you okay?"

Not trusting his voice, Hunk nodded yes. He watched as Keith scanned him, not trusting the Yellow paladin. Then, Hunk wondered why the others were not here. They should have made it before him. Scanning the pods, Hunk noticed his friends were missing. “Where are the others?”

Gently grabbing Hunk’s arm, Keith led him over to the table, which Keith had occupied. Keeping his voice low, he gestured for Hunk to sit. “The venom does something strange to our lungs. Coran said to removed it before it can do permanent damage. For once, Lance’s test showed he was unaffected. Matt had a small amount.”

Coran turned his attention to his patient. “Hunk, you have a small amount of venom in your lungs. More than Matt, but less than Keith, we need to get you into a pod.”

“Thank you Coran. I will in a few minutes.” Directing his attention to Keith, Hunk spoke knowing deep down the answer. “Pidge and you had the most venom on your lions, so the two of you should be the worst. Is she okay?” Hunk moved away from the table as Coran moved away. 

Keith glanced at Coran as he started his scans on Hunk, and took a deep breath. “Matt and Lance went to find her. She never made it here after we split up. Maybe she is looking over Green.” When he dared to look at Hunk, he saw the same look on the other paladin. “Maybe she got distracted.”

A few seconds later, Matt ran into the room with Lance following after. Pidge cradled in Lance’s arm, but she didn’t look happy about her position. They quickly made their way to the other two paladins and Lance placed Pidge down on the table. 

Chapped lips and wheezing slightly, she playfully hit Lance in the chest when he released her. “I’m not dying. I needed to start the cleaning process for the lions. I could’ve walked here.” Matt and Lance were on her left and Keith and Hunk stood on her right, she could tell none of them liked her joke.

For a brief second, all five paladins looked at Shiro as he asked the obvious question. “Pidge, what happen to you, why do you look older?” 

Concentrating on Pidge, Lance flirtatious smile spoke volumes. “Well, it was nice to carry you. Would it kill you to let someone do something nice?” Then, he winked.

As Shiro yelled at Lance, Pidge noticed her dad walk into the room. His face had worry on it, and she was sad she put that there. Coran popped up from seemingly nowhere and smiled at her. “I know what you are going to say. You want me to go into a pod and the answer is no.” She watched as Coran’s face fell.

Shiro advanced closer to the paladins, his face carried a stern expression. “Tell me what is happening.” Thace moved with Shiro, only Thace focused on Keith. 

Sam stepped between the older men and touched their shoulders causing them to stop and calm down. Then, Sam moved toward his son Matt.

It was then, Hunk noticed that Sam had Lance’s jacket under his arm as if he protected it. Nodding as he handed over the jacket, Hunk noticed the strange interaction of the Holt men as acceptance.

The room went eerily silent, when Pidge spoke. “Talk all you want, I will not go into the pod.” Her face stern and unforgiving, Pidge swung her legs over the left side of the table and prepared to leave. Waiting for one of them to argue, she missed Matt handing Lance his jacket and nodding to Pidge. “I will not go.”

Placing his jacket around her shoulders and sliding her arms into the sleeves, Lance waited until she looked up at him to speak. “This is not like last time. We are here. One of us will be here in this room while you are in there. Do you trust us?”

Nodding yes, Pidge kept her eyes on him. “As soon as I can come out, you let me out. Got it?” 

Leaning down so they were face to face, Lance grinned. “Anything for you.” Never taking his eye off her, Lance signaled to Allura. “She is ready.”

Hunk moved close and whispered his question. “When we were on the ship, the display showed pink dots and I…”

Her head snap toward him so fast, Hunk moved back. “Pink, oh my, I wasn’t sure if… wait… you saw them… are they here?” She barely noticed his nod as her mind raced. Scanning the room, she spotted one of the kids and smiled. When she tried to stand, Lance pulled her back. “Lance, don’t you get it, there hear?” Someone said who, but she couldn’t focus. Allura appeared at her side and smiled at her, but Pidge looking around. “Allura, can you believe it? Their alive. Wow. I never thought it would work. I just used the files from the database and wow.” When she finally noticed the strange stares, she realized she never answered the original question. Smiling at Coran and Allura, she spoke. “I programed the scanner to pick up matches to everyone in the database. I color-coded them to help me find each one later. Allura’s outfit was pink, so pink dots mean Altean DNA.” She saw when it clicked in their minds what she meant.

Almost not believing her, Coran lowered his voice. “Are you sure?”

“Yes, Coran.” Pidge said and then coughed, she tried to wave Lance off, but he would not move. “The program for decoding them is on my computer, or you can ask them.” She coughed again, but this time she held onto Lance’s arm.

The kid Pidge spotted earlier stepped forward as his voice carried a snotty tone. “Shouldn’t she go into a pod? She sounds like she needs to be healed, right now. What are you waiting for?”

Beaming with pride, Pidge stared right at him. “Don’t worry, Commander Krik. We are not what you expected, but we have a tendency to grow on you. Right, Coran?” She coughed as he rolled his eyes.

“Alright, number 5, that is enough of your sharp tongue, in the pod with you.” He assisted her over to the center pod, but leaned down so only she could hear. “I will make sure he eats and is not alone while you recover.” 

All she could do was nod because of her cough. She climbed inside and smiled at her fellow paladins, but her face showed a last bit of rebellion. “Do I win a prize if I break Lance’s record?” She heard several of them yell no, but that only made her smile. The door closed and she drifted to sleep.

Keith turned to Allura and spoke so the room would hear him. “Matt and I are next. Then, Shiro and Thace. Hunk will go in last to make sure everyone goes in. While I am out, Lance is in charge of the paladins and our lions. Agreed?” 

“Agreed.” She nodded at Keith then pointed to the pod. “Coran and I will talk with our new guest and assign rooms. Just like with Iverson, I will make it clear how this ship is run.”

Turning to Matt, Keith pointed to the pod next to Pidge. “Take that one, so your dad will be able to see the two of you better.” 

Matt nodded as Lance helped him into the pod. “I should be out first. See you soon.”

Whispering to Keith, Hunk glanced at Shiro. “How can I make them go in there?” 

Keith put a hand on his shoulder and spoke. “Sam will do most of the work. Don’t worry.” As he turned to go to his pod, he had not seen Allura sneak up on him. 

Speaking in low tones, she smiled at her paladins. “Keith, Hunk, it will be okay. We can handle this. I can take care of the castle. You take care of each other right now. If they are the Alteans of old, then we will be unstoppable.” Her eyes lit up at the thought of not being the only survivors. 

Keith stepped into the pod and went to sleep.

Glancing over at Shiro and Thace, Hunk motioned to the two empty pods next to Keith. Sam smiled and patted Hunk’s shoulder, so Hunk moved closer to Shiro. “You have to go into the pod. We can explain things later.”

Shiro stepped in front of the pod near Keith and whispered to Hunk. “Why is Pidge older? What happened to her?”

Placing a hand on Shiro, Sam glided him into the pod. “Takashi, I will answer your questions. Right now, please get into the pod.” Smiling politely at Thace, Sam kept his voice fatherly and compassionate. “My daughter told me your story Thace. We can talk later if you like, but please get in now.”

Thace nodded, stepped inside the pod, and went to sleep.

Glancing from Hunk to Sam, Shiro stepped in his pod and fell asleep.

Slowing walking to the last open pod, Hunk stood next to Lance. “Matt and I should be out quick, don’t do anything to crazy while we are in there okay?”

Lance chuckled to himself, and then smiled at his friend. “Like what, sneak out of here and cause trouble? Something tells me, I will have a hard time doing anything with the Garrison, the Alteans, Allura, Coran, and Sam watching after me.”

Stepping into his pod, Hunk smiled at Lance. “I bet you could have fun driving them crazy. Let me know how it goes.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another crazy chapter.


	13. Truth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Matt learns to open up more with the truth.

Five days after entering the pod, Matt smiled at his fellow paladins as they ate dinner together. It felt good they were out of the pod, and a routine started. Everyone had an easy time getting along, well, almost everyone. 

They met in the cafeteria, ate breakfast, trained, ate lunch, trained, ate dinner, showered, and then they would split up. Each needed some alone time before starting over again the next day. 

Coran, Shiro, Iverson, and Krik watched the training sessions. At dinner, they would join the paladins and mention what they saw as areas of improvement. Alpha team would train in a different location, but would join the paladins for dinner and talk about their day. Some Alteans would join in and ask question of the Earthlings to understand the new guardians of the universe.

Matt watched as Keith and Thace did a little dance of avoidance, but wondered if it would be better to lock the two of them in a room to work it out. Even tonight, when Thace tried to sit next to Keith, the Black paladin moved to the other side of the table to sit next to Lance. Pinching the bridge of his nose, Matt sat on the other side of Lance and purposely bumped Lance’s arm.

“Watch it, you’re as clumsy as your sister,” Lance playfully said to Matt while bumping him back. A smirk appeared on Lance’s face as he reached across Keith and stole one of Pidge’s fries. Matt shaking his head no only fueled Lance to steal another one.

Daring a glance at his sister as she ignored her food and typed on her computer, Matt whispered to Lance. “First, it was on purpose. Second, if she catches you, she will retaliate and I am not sure you want her wrath. Have you tried talking to her, instead of the arguing and fighting?”

Smirking at Pidge, Lance retorted. “I have no idea what you are talking about.” He stared at her expected a response, or at least a snippy comment. Speaking a little louder this time, Lance kept his eyes in Matt’s direction. “Matt, you are a great addition to the team and thanks for watching my back today.”

Pidge rolled her eyes and mumbled. “Stop standing in the way and you won’t have a problem.” She rolled her eyes, before she spoke again. “I don’t get paid enough for this.”

It started with a chuckle from Keith and then Lance. Next, both we laughing at her statement, which then one of them followed up with a comment about being paid? Then, they were laughing all over again. Finally, when they stopped, the room was completely silent. 

Choosing this moment to enter, Hunk carried two plates of food to the table. He sat one down in front of Pidge and the other in the empty spot next to her and took a seat. “Sorry about dropping your food on the floor.”

She smirked at Lance, and then pointing at her old plate. “Thanks for making a new plate. Besides, who would want to eat food from the floor?” Just to add insult to injury, she winked at her target and watched as realization struck. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Keith shake his head in disapproval.

Anger surged thru him as Lance pointed at her. “You are evil, but if that is the best you could think of, than I am safe.”

Lifting an eyebrow, she turned back to Hunk. “Would you mind if I took my food to go? I wanted to try out new code on Green?”

Keith interrupted the pending argument when he cleared his throat. “Pidge, go ahead and go work on your code. We will meet back here for breakfast.” By the time he finished, Pidge had gathered her food and computer. He watched as she nodded to the team and left. Keith did not notice who took her seat until it was too late and he was unable to keep his annoyance from his voice. “I don’t want to talk to you.”

“You are so much like your mother. She would have loved to see you become a paladin.” Gazing more at the table than his son, Thace’s own words made him frown. It was hard to tell if it was due to Keith or the thought of losing his wife. “I am sorry for how you grew up. I am sorry I thought you were dead. If I could do things differently, I would have raised you on Earth myself. I would have done anything to keep you away from this life.”

A small chuckle escaped Keith’s lips as he rose from his seat and noticed the eerily silent room. Staring at Thace, Keith kept his voice even and loud enough for everyone could hear him. “That is just it Thace, you don’t know me. Alfor ran and split up the lions, you and the remaining Alteans hid in Cryo pods, the Garrison ignored the problem, and the other races we met would rather give up than fight. As a paladin, as the Black Paladin, I…” Glancing at Lance, Matt, and Hunk, Keith continued. “We are different. Maybe if you raised me, I would have learned to run. Even when I was small, I hoped one day someone come for me and take me home. Take me away from my life.” Keith risked a look at Shiro and found his head down. “But, I am not that person anymore. I will be part of the solution. We are the paladins of Voltron, and will be the ones to reset the balance. It was a good thing I grew up the way I did, it made me who I am, someone who will not back down when things get tough. As I said, I don’t want to talk to you, because we have nothing to say to each other.” Turning back to Lance, Keith nodded. “We never had your day at the beach, tomorrow seems like the perfect day.”

Lance smiled and nodded, but anyone who knew him saw he waited for the other shoe to drop. “Keith, that sounds like a plan.”

Smiling back, Keith viewed Lance then Matt and back to Lance. “Great, it’s settled. Don’t forget to tell Pidge.” His smile turned into a smirk when realization crossed Lance’s face. Stepping away from the table, Keith noticed Matt pinching his nose and Hunk frowning. “Cheer up, it will be fun,” and then Keith walked out of the room.

Peering to the side, Matt observed the defeated frown on Thace’s face. Then, he had to smirk at the annoyance on Lance’s face. “Please forgive Keith. He spoke the truth, but he still needs to learn the art of tact. Maybe it is our age, maybe we seem silly, like to joke around too much, maybe…”

“I like to think it is because we are so good-looking, the universe just gets jealous.” Lance stated as he stroked his chin, as if his facing Pidge later was a walk in the park. His face seemed confident, but Hunk and Matt could see the truth. Grateful for his team not saying anything, Lance kept his feelings to himself.

Hunk rose from the table, “Well, I will see you two tomorrow, night.” 

Then, Hunk left, but Matt knew he was just nervous about all the talk about being brave. Matt made a mental note to talk to him tomorrow. Then, he faced Lance. The Red paladin was deep in thought, but that would never stop Matt. “Yeah, Lance let’s go have some fun. We can stop by Green’s hanger and then go to the training deck. How does that sound?”

Facing Matt, Lance turned on his polite smile. “Actually, I need to finish a few things before I can harass your sister. I’m sure you can find something to do.” His head never moved, but Lance’s eyes traveled to Ginger and back to Matt. “I mean, you should go have fun and enjoy life a little. At least one of the Holts should learn to have fun.” Lance nodded to Matt, stood up, and glanced again at Ginger, but this time he seemed sad. He walked out shaking his head no.

Matt almost jumped out of his skin when Ginger sat next to him. “Ginger, do you want to go the training deck?”

“How about we take a walk? I want to show you what we found today.”

Nodding yes, Matt found himself following Ginger out the door. They traveled, in silence to the observation deck. Once they arrived, Matt saw Ginger spin around and face him. When she started ringing her hands together, Matt reach out and held her hands. “Ginger, we have known each other a long time. You are not the nervous type, so why are you nervous? Is something wrong?”

Taking a deep breath, Ginger focused on their combined hands. “No one wants to tell you. I don’t want to be the one. It is just, we don’t want to cause problems. Since no one else has said anything, I feel you should know.”

Smiling as he pulled her over to the bench and guided her to sit. “Ginger, just tell me.”

Frowning, her eyes met him. “The Alpha team and the best fighting team of Alteans, are seeing the same thing. Lance wants to have sex with your sister Pidge. And with his reputation…”

Bursting out laughing, Matt dropped his hold on her hands. He laughed so hard he rubbed away a tear. “No offence, but Lance and my sister are not friends with benefits.” Before she could object, Matt continued. “He is falling in love with her and she is falling for him. Lance is smart, honorable, and above all else, fun. They are stuck in this loop of pushing each other away, but they will come around, both of them.” When her face scrunched in disbelief, Matt knew what to say. “Dad, Keith, Hunk, Coran, and Allura all see it happening. We are just waiting for them to figure it out.”

“What? Does Iverson know? Why are you so sure?”

Smiling, Matt stared at the stars out the main window. “When he saved my life, all he cared about was Pidge. She was on this planet and all he wanted was her back and happy to find me here. After she arrived, I watched them carefully. Hunk and I, even looked up older video from the castle and their time at the Garrison off the computers from Earth. Watching it, is an eye opening experience.” Looking at Ginger, he smirked. “She gives him these sly looks and if he steps too far out of line, she gets even.” Matt’s smile failed as he looked down at Ginger’s hands. “I remember his face when he saw the video. He kept saying that she was in the castle and alive. He was reminding himself not to panic. I know I have used that tactic.”

Her soft voice caused him to look at her eyes again. “As Iverson told us of the video, he looked angry, but something else was there. Maybe he felt…”

“Destroyed, but not because he was not there. I think it hurt him, she never told him what happened. He doesn’t want to hold her back. Only, he’s wrong. They would never hold each other back. They help each other move forward. He helps her have fun when she’s focused on her computer. She keeps him grounded and makes him remember he has something to return home too.”

Gently squeezing his hand, she smiled. “What can we do to help?”

“Honestly, stay as far away from the topic and them as possible. Do you remember when we use to let off fireworks and every once in a while we could not see the fuse, but you know it will go off soon. They are like that firework with a lit fuse. It will be very soon, but I don’t want anyone caught in the crossfire.” Smiling at her again, Matt lowered his voice. “So, did you believe I was dead? It is okay if you did.”

A tear slipped from her eye as she spoke. “At first, no. Then, after a while, I didn’t want to think of you stranded on the moon with little or no supplies, or possibly worse. Once I found out you were a prisoner…” Her voice cracked as Matt pulled her into a hug.

“Ginger, I missed you too.” Matt unintentionally squeezed her harder. “I don’t blame you for thinking I would be better off dead. The only thing that kept me going was…” Looking at her tear stained face, he tried to smile. “I was glad my sister and the Alpha team were on Earth. None of you deserve that kind of treatment.” Without realizing it, he started slowly rocking them back and forth.

She pulled out of his embrace and started at him. “Matt, you’ve changed. I was so mad at you when we broke up, but now I am glad. We both needed to grow up a little.”

Smirking at her, Matt leaned in. “Do you want to pick up where we left off?” As she shook her head no, he pretended to be hurt. “Actually, I’m glad. I was a jerk and I’m sorry for how I treated you.”

“Getting back to why we are here. I will spread the word about your sister and…”

Relaxing against the bench, Matt felt happy. “My future brother-in-law. Don’t say that part, but I totally see them. Maybe not when I first saw them together, but every day, the idea grows on me. I think my dad saw it before I did.”

Shaking her head no again, Ginger leaned over and kissed Matt’s cheek. “Your secret is safe with me.” When he faced her, she pulled back. “As for us, it depends if we have changed enough to start over.”

“Am damaged.”

“You are not the only one, your death damaged me. Question is, can we recover?”

Matt pushed himself to stand and held out his hand to help Ginger stand. “Well, only time will tell.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for updating the chapter. I went over them and found some mistakes. Hopefully, this chapter makes you happy.


	14. Changing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Will Lance tell Pidge about what was planned?   
> What could possible go wrong?

As she worked hard in Green’s hanger, Pidge realized it was late and she needed her rest for tomorrow. If she appeared tired, someone would notice and make a comment about her sleeping habits. Saying goodnight to Green grew harder each night, which is why she stayed late tonight. By the eighth time Green reminded her of sleep, Pidge knew it was time to go. 

Pidge made her way to her room and looked around at her mess. Normally, it made her happy, but tonight she straightened up. Sorting her books and equipment relaxed her, but she still felt off. Finally, after another hour of lost time, she settled on the bed under her warm covers to fall asleep. 

After an hour of trying, she decided a snack might help pass out. Right before she stepped into the hall, she noticed Matt standing by his door with Ginger. They kept saying goodnight, but then one of them would start talking over again. ‘How hard is it to say goodnight, really?’ Quietly closing her door, she made a mental note to ask Matt about his relationship with Ginger, past and present. They were sibling after all and it would help strengthen their bond after missing him for so long. 

Pidge set back down on her bed and pulled a blanket to cover her shoulders. She glanced at her computer and saw she had six hours until training, which meant she lost three hours of sleep already. Her mind raced with numbers and calculations she coded, but a big part of her wanted sleep. She remembered her conversation with Green earlier in the day about talking with Lance. Green kept pushing her to open up, but she was at a loss as to why. 

Groaning in frustration, Pidge wondered if someone knew a great remedy to fall asleep. Matt would question her to death, Hunk would make her a bunch of food, and Keith would make her go to the training deck to use exhaustion. Rubbing her eyes, she believed Lance knew what to say. Yet, something happened between them and she had a hard time figuring out why.

Yawning loudly, Pidge missed the knock at her door or even the fact someone call out her name. However, as the door opened, she looked up at her new arrival.

Lance made sure to close the door behind him before swiftly walking over to Pidge. Once he got a closer look at her face in the dimly lit room, he noticed three things. She had changed her clothes into something new, a little more like the feminine creature in the picture with her brother. Second, her sheets were everywhere, including one still wrapped around her. Last, she had a tear running down her face as if she had no knowledge of its existence.

He motioned to sit next to her and smiled when she nodded yes. Speaking softly, Lance sat on her left. “Can’t sleep?” 

Unable to look at him, she shrugged. Considering that his hand guided her chin toward him, she felt proud she kept herself from jerking back. Once they had eye contact, she stared at him in confusion. “Lance?” This time, when he used a free finger to wipe away a stray tear, she jerked back slightly. Desperately, she tried to recover as if what happened was normal. 

“Are you okay? You seem upset and unable to focus.” Without asking, he pulled her into a hug, and felt her shiver. “Please tell me what’s wrong?” 

Rambling as she spoke, Pidge let out her feelings. “I can’t sleep with all the numbers and code running through my head. They don’t make sense, I can’t get them to go in the right order. They stick wherever they want and… and I can’t get them to listen. I tried to sleep and the numbers won’t stop. Then, I tried to get a drink or food, but Matt was in the hallway with Ginger saying goodnight, but not. The numbers won’t stop, they surround me. I can’t…” 

Gently, he helped her to look up at him again. “Pidge, please stop.” Putting a stray strand behind her right ear, he kept the serious look to his face. “Take a deep breath.” Patiently waiting for her, Lance’s eyes intensified. Her inner struggle played on her face, but he kept still. When she caved, he rubbed her cheek. “Your mind is trying to solve a problem and you are fighting it. Our minds work on the problems as we sleep and sometimes we fight back. It is time to let your mind do what it does best, calculate an answer.” Wiping away tears from her cheek, Lance gave her one last hug.

Breathing deep, Pidge could have sworn she heard him sigh. He use to smell like the beach, but now she focused on his warmth more than his scent. Her heart rate sped up as she thought about Lance. ‘What is happening?’ She kept herself from crying again, when they separated. However, she did notice that Lance had a pink tinge to his cheeks. She did not have time to wonder why. 

Standing up, Lance pulled her up with him. “I came here to tell you we will not have a training session tomorrow. Instead, we get to play at the beach outside. We finally get to have a fun day.” Her lack of emotion reminded him to fix her current problem. “Okay, back to the current situation, we will remake the bed.” Silence passed between them as he made her bed while she remained a statue. Once done, he was unable to keep the frown from his face.

She pulled back the blanket, but stared at the bed ominously. Her voice was so low he almost missed it. “This is the part I hate. I lay down and I think about all the code I should be writing. Sometimes, I feel like I am letting everyone down.”

“Please don’t say that. I would not have been on the roof if it wasn’t for you and your obsession with finding your family.”

A weak but sincere smile, she looked back at the bed. “You would have snuck out for one reason or another.”

Nervousness flowed within his words as Lance moved over to the top of the bed. “Ah, I have an idea, but you might get mad.” Her eyes appeared to pierce his as if to say ‘what’ causing Lance to swallow loudly. It reminded him of when she called him tailor. Instead of speaking, Lance made himself comfortable in her bed. Glancing at her, he motioned to the left side of the bed. “Come over here and lay down next to me.”

The war was over faster than it started as she climbed in next to him. She hugged his side as she settled in for sleep. Laying her head on his chest, Pidge realized how much she missed his warmth from their hug a moments ago. Yawning as she pulled the covers up on both of them, she felt him shift slightly. Once they seemed ready, she dared to look at his face. ‘Why is he blushing? Maybe I should tell him that I am fine.’ Watching him yawn, Pidge felt something changing inside her. Pidge ignored her feelings as she gazed at him, and she found herself relax. “Goodnight Lance.” 

Before he could respond, Pidge leaned up and pressed her lips to his. She lingered for a moment, tempted to stay this way. Instead, she pulled back before she overstepped her boundaries. She felt her pulse quicken in triumph and she felt like she finally did something right. The pinkness in his cheeks darkened, but it made her feel good to succeed at making him feel something. 

His voice sounded off, even to him. “Goodnight Pidge.” As she lay back, he willed his heart to stop racing. When she flexed her left hand that rested on his chest, Lance held it with his right hand. Within no time, his pulse calmed and his breathing became steady. His eyes closed as he drifted off to sleep.

She closed her eyes and snuggled into his warmth. Before she could reason why she kissed him, she fell asleep.

 

In that half-awake half-asleep state, Pidge felt the need to get up. Unable to reach her desired amount of sleep, she wondered if her body needed to lie back down. Only, an image floated into her head of strangers standing next to Green, and they were about to hook her up to a strange looking device. It was a cross between a laptop and a toaster, but somewhere deep in her mind she knew they were in danger.

Sitting up, Pidge remembered Lance had helped her fall asleep. Glancing at him, she saw how peaceful and happy his face appeared. Slowly she climbed over him and got out of bed. Yawning as she moved around her room, she gathered her bag, laptop, some regular clothes, and her paladin armor. She popped her neck and moved toward the door.

Another image of Green appeared in her of Keith yelling at a female Altean as two other held him back. Pidge raced to Green as a wave of anger mixed with fear poured through her. Her journey was a blur as she quietly entered the hangar. 

Hugging the left wall, Pidge made her way to her main station. Listening to the intruders, Pidge kept quiet for Green. 

As the Altean woman moved toward the Altean holding the toaster, she spoke. “Make sure to only erase the memories of the current paladin. We will need the Green lion to remember how to fight and to accept the castle.”

Keeping to herself, she opened her bag, pulled out her laptop, and started typing. For a brief second, she made eye contact with Krik. Then, he stepped away from her and she realized he would keep the focus on him, so she could finish her work. She kept low to the floor and hope no one heard her typing.

Stepping closer to the bossy Altean woman, Krik positioned himself between the woman and Keith. “Romelle, are you sure you want to make changes? We do not know how this will affect the lions. The elders and Lord Alfor agreed to this process only once and that was when Zarkon was the paladin.” Standing directly in front of Keith, Krirk waited until Romelle turned her back and winked at Keith. “Allura and Coran will not tolerate this. How will you explain your actions to the paladin guards? They will see this as treason.” 

Lowering her head, she took in a deep breath. “Allura was blind. They are too young for this war. It is time we reset the balance. Once we are done here, we will go to Yellow, Blue, and Red.” Rubbing her temple, she frowned at Krik. “Please try to understand. I am doing this to protect the universe.”

Nodding yes, he spoke from the heart. “If we have the correct paladins, we can win this war.” Sliding his hand down to his side, he took a step closer to Keith. “We should round up the current paladins until the process is complete and tell the others it is routine maintenance.”

Keith wanted to push against the guard holding him, but his instincts told him to trust Krik. When Romelle pointed to the access panel on Green, Keith growled a warning. “If you so much as breathe on one of the lions, it will be the last thing you do.” 

Her voice was sad, but her point was clear. “Make sure the paladins stay away from their hangers until the process is complete.”

Glancing behind Keith and staring at a pile of equipment in the corner, Krik spoke in soft tones. “Now is the time.” 

The guard holding Keith, the Altean holding the device, and Romelle all turn to look at him. His hand slid down his side to place his hand on his weapon as he squared his shoulders preparing to fight.

Alarms sounded throughout the castle causing the group to cover their ears. At the same time, both the side door and the overhead door to Green’s hanger started to open. The Castleship quieted for a moment. Then, the voice, which the paladins heard the first time they entered the castle spoke over the intercom system. “Warning, warning, warning. Breach detected. Protection protocol initiated.”

Green rose up and thrashed her tail at Romelle. Glancing at the open ceiling, Green opened her mouth and roared. Then, she took to the sky and left her hanger. In the distance, the other lions roared.

Once again, the Castleship voice echoed through the halls. “Lions to hibernation mode until paladins can awaken.” Doors all over the castle closed. “Paladin protection initiated. System shutdown and lockout required.” The castle shook as the all the lights and computer systems switched to emergency power. “Paladins, a system restart required.”

As an eerie silence covered the room, Pidge walked over to Keith with her backpack on her shoulder. He faced her when she tugged his arm. As their eyes met, she knew he was not happy. “Ship is on lock down and we need to get to the bridge as fast as possible. We can gather the other paladins on the way and unlock the ship.”

Keith did his best not to yell. “What did you do?”

Pidge glanced at the others in the room, but her eyes landed back on Keith. “I um… we can discuss it later, we need to go.” She tried to pull him toward the door, but he did not budge. Sighing in defeat, Pidge looked straight at him. “It is a failsafe I installed when Sendak broke in. It scatters the lions near their paladins, but only we can get them. It locks the castle down, but we can still move about the ship as we work our way to the bridge.”

Running his hand over his chin, Keith stared at the smallest paladin. “Well, do you know how to find the others? I mean you have a way to track them within the ship?”

Failing to keep a straight face as she cringed, Pidge whispered. “The program shut down when the computer did. Someone breaks in, we don’t want them to find us.”

Dropping his hand to his side, Keith raised his voice for the others to hear. “Krik, please keep an eye on Romelle and her three followers. Okay, Pidge lead the way so we can all go.” Keith saw Pidge casting her eyes at the floor so he whispered. “We should take them with us. She did this because she does not know us. She is afraid we are not paladin material.” Placing his hand on her shoulder, Keith wondered for a brief second if he was right. He decided a leader makes choices and it made him feel better.

Silently the group walked toward the door and as soon as the paladins approached, the door opened. Without an explanation, Krik pointed in the direction of the cafeteria. In the darkened hallway, they quickened their pace as they neared another set of doors. 

Glancing at his fellow paladin, Keith kept his voice low. “I’m sure the others are okay.”

“Well, they wouldn’t make great paladins if they got hurt every time we got separated.” Shaking her head and walking straight for the door to the cafeteria. The door opened automatically so she yelled. “Hunk, hey big guy! Let’s go!”

Peering out from behind the counter, Hunk released his breath. “Oh, Pidge. What is going on? I thought I would stay here until the ship woke up.” Then, he noticed Keith standing a few steps behind her, both with miserable looks. “Let me guess, we have to go fight bad guys.”

Keith stepped forward and glided Hunk out the door, the Black paladin spoke. “No Hunk. No fighting, just we need to go to the bridge and unlock the ship.” As they started their journey, Keith saw the question on Hunk’s face. “Pidge locked everyone out when the Green was in trouble.” As Hunk relaxed, he continued. “Do you know where we can find Matt or Lance?”

Hunk looked from Keith to Pidge and back. “Matt passed by on his way to Blue’s hanger with Ginger. He mumbled something about his lion under stress.”

As they passed the med bay, they heard knocking from the door, so Keith walked up to the door and it opened. Once he did, the special Altean team of fighters, Krik had called the paladin guard, flooded out of the room looking livid. Keith knew they had a right to be mad, but they had a job to do. “Stand down.”

“Black paladin, Princess Romelle is planning on harming the lions. We need to stop her.”

For the first time in days, Pidge laughed. “She’s no threat to us. We need to get all of the paladins to the bridge and we will unlock the castle. Then, we can worry about getting the lions awake.”

Footsteps, which sounded like a small group, came from the hallway before them. The paladin guard positioned themselves in front of Keith, Pidge, and Hunk. As the footsteps drew closer, the paladins waited for anything.

The five Alpha team rounded the corner with weapons drawn, but lowered them when they spotted the paladins. Jeff turned his back on the crowd, and whistled to the hallway.

Shaking his head, Matt walked right past his old team and up to his sister. “No offence, but this has your name written all over it.” The Holt siblings were nose to nose as he stared at her. “What did you do?”

“Long story.” She stepped back, stuck at her tongue at him, and then moved down the hallway. “Now all we need to do is get Lance and go to the bridge.” Matt kept in step until she turned to go back toward their rooms. When he grabbed her arm, she snapped. “What?”

“Lance is not in his room, we checked.” Once the words left his mouth, Matt saw confusion etched on her face. “We checked all the rooms and they were empty.” Watching his sister closely, Matt wondered what he missed. 

“Okay. Then, to the bridge we go.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Things are changing, but is this a bad thing or a good thing?


	15. Recovery

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Restarting the computer and getting things back normal. Well, normal for them.  
> Or will they?

Standing on the bridge with Shiro, Thace, Iverson, Allura, Coran, and Sam made Lance uneasy. Between the alarms and Coran’s constant talking, Lance wished he could crawl back under the covers. Right now, Lance felt crammed between Shiro and Sam as they reviewed the computer logs. 

First, the log showed Keith leave his room about twenty minutes before the alarm and head off with Krik. Iverson and Allura said they would track them, so they moved over to her computer screen. 

Fifteen minutes before the alarm, Hunk left his room to grab a snack in the cafeteria according to Coran. 

About ten minutes before the alarm, Matt left with Jeff toward the Blue hangar. Coran and Thace moved over to the station where Shiro use to stand and began tracing Matt’s movements.

Seven minutes before the alarm, Pidge left her room and headed straight toward Green hangar. 

Lance’s mind wondered a bit until Shiro yelled his name. “Lance!” Shiro snapped as the room went silent.

Nodding at Shiro, Lance realized everyone was silent and staring at him. “What? Did you find what caused the shut down? Are the others okay?”

“Right before the alarms, why are you leaving Pidge’s room?” Shiro’s voice held an edgy tone, but his face showed no emotion. 

His tone held it usual playfulness, but Lance also held a challenge. “Why do you think I was leaving Pidge’s room in the middle of the night?” Glancing over at Sam, Lance kept his composure at the playful smirk on the older man’s face. “Shiro…”

The doors open and in walked the paladins with the remaining crewmembers. Everyone appeared tired as the groups separated and the paladins moved to their stations. Well, all except Matt.

Examining Lance closely, Matt pointed to the other chair. Humor in his eyes matched his voice as he whispered to the Red paladin. “Lance, this is my seat, you sit there.”

Rolling his eyes, Lance stood and playfully bumped into Matt. Mumbling sorry, he moved over to the Red paladin’s seat and stared at it.

Keith stood next to the chair, but kept looking at Lance. “Will you sit down already?”

“You first, fearless leader.”

Rubbing her right eye with her hand, Pidge scanned her screen. “Will you two get over it and sit down? We can’t initiate the re-boot without the paladins at their stations.” It was less than a second later Lance and Keith rolled their eyes and sat, causing Pidge to smirk. She started typing away as the computer screens flickered to a plain white screen. “Alex, please re-boot the computer.” 

The computer spoke as it scanned each chair. “Paladins, protection protocol initiated. Would you like to initiate a system restart?”

“Yes, Alex, initiate a system restart. Can you please estimate completion time?”

A figure appeared in the center of the room where Allura usually stood. Approximately, eight years old human girl wore a flowing light green dress. Her eyes as blue as the ocean, her hair the color of fire, and her skin was brown like fresh soil. Examining Lance, Matt, Hunk, Pidge, and finally Keith, she nodded yes. She voice was sweet and it held the air of innocence. “System restart will begin momentarily and will take five thousand two hundred and eight ticks.”

Pidge groaned. “Please continue.” Groaning again, Pidge placed her head in her hands and began ranting. “Less than two hours, I should have made it faster. I should have spent more time working on the main computer instead of the upgrades. Yes, we needed stronger shields for both the ships and the lions. At what cost? Once complete, we can reroute power to life support and I can examine the main systems subroutines again. If I can find which systems are non-threating, maybe I can cut the time to twenty minutes. Or I can leave life support up and only re-boot the engines?” Removing her hands from her face, she leaned back in her chair. Pidge stared at the ceiling as if expecting an answer to come.

Allura stared at the young figure in confusion. “Pidge, did you create a physical interface for the computer?”

Nodding yes, Pidge kept typing as she quickly spoke to the princess. “Yes. I named it after a lost city, which carried all of the knowledge of the world, Alexandria. You can call her Alex if you like. She will answer questions and help identify problems within the ship.”

Disrupting her thoughts, Keith kept his voice unemotional. “On average, how much sleep do you get in a night?” He frowned when Pidge mumbled enough as she continued to stare at the ceiling. Clearly, she was deep in thought about fixing the computer, but he cared more about being there for his team.

Alex, the computer, spoke in direct terms to Keith. “The Green paladin averages six thousand nine hundred fifty-one ticks over the last week.” All but two sets of eyes landed on Pidge as she glared murderous eyes at Alex. 

However, Shiro kept his eyes on Lance as he thought thru the events. Keeping his voice low, Shiro’s question was more to him than Lance. “Is that why you were in her room?” However, Shiro realized too late, that the Blue paladin heard him.

Matt’s head jerked to Lance and then back to sister, his eyes went wide as realization hit. His voice rose over the entire group as he processed the new information. “Lance slept in your room, your room. Not only did you let him in your room, you left him alone. You? Wow, I don’t know if I’m impressed or jealous you left someone alone with your stuff.” Amused at his sister’s reaction, Matt dared a glance at his father, who also held an amused look. Satisfaction flowed through him, as he knew his sister found a foster family that would look after her, when Matt was not able.

Hunk sounded wounded as he spoke, which was why he kept his voice low. “She always lets him touch her stuff, ever since the rooftop at the Garrison. I’m not surprised, it was only a matter of time.” 

“Just drop it.” Pidge began typing furiously on her console as the frown deepened on her face. “Matt, just drop it.” Her frustration directed at the situation and not her brother. Mumbling to the computer, Pidge’s face relaxed slightly. “Maybe if we skip the secondary checks we can shave forty minutes from the process and then we can…” Her fingers gliding over the keys like lighting. “Oh, what if we tried this…”

However, Lance focused on the real issue as his eyes bore a hole on Pidge. Taking a deep breath, he made a mental note to talk to Pidge in private.

Flashing his famous Holt smile, Matt focused on Lance’s passive face. “So what is the inner sanctuary look like? Is it messy or orderly? Does she steal the covers?” For good measure he winked, which caused Lance to toss him a murderous glare. 

Keith watched the interaction with great interest; it was good to see them happy and picking on each other. Upon noticing the paladin guards and the Alpha team tense, Keith figured he should curb their enthusiasm. “Team, that’s enough. We can talk about this later.” Staring at Matt caused the Blue paladin to nod in understanding. 

Her eyes never left her console as she powered down Alex and re-routed power to a few systems. She focused on her monitor and jumped slightly when Romelle stood next to her. “I understand why you tried to replace us, but…”

“I’m sorry. All of you are so different from the paladins of old. I am sorry that I assumed you are not worthy.” Her face mirrored the tired paladin, but she managed a weak smile. “Please allow us to make it up to you.”

In a flash, Alexandria reappeared. “Systems will be back online in approximately twenty minutes. Is this acceptable?”

Smirking as she typed, Pidge reached up to adjust her non-existent glasses. “Yes, Alex. We will work on trimming the time down later.” Facing Keith, she failed to hold back a yawn. “We can change and go after the lions while the computer finishes.”

“Agreed.” Smiling at the other paladins, Keith scanned the others. “Lance and Hunk will go after the Red and Yellow lions. Pidge and Matt will go after the Green and Blue lions. I will head to the Black lion and we will meet back in the castle. Sorry Lance, beach day will have to wait.”

Matt jumped from his chair made is way to Pidge, smiling as he moved. Gentling he pulled her to stand, and interlocked their hands. “Let’s go have some fun and we will have time to talk too.” He never stopped smiling as the Holt siblings left.

Hunk stood and moved toward Keith, but they were too far away for Lance to hear them. Instead, Lance waited for Shiro to come over to talk to him quietly. Smiling as if he had conquered the universe, Lance’s voice was just as sweet. “This is too good to be true, right? We are all-together again and ready to take on the universe.”

Shiro smiled politely, his voice was reassuring. “Yes, the lions are interconnected. Just like the paladins have a connection.” Clearly, he thought about his time as a paladin. “It is as if we will always be a team no matter where we are or how much time has lapsed.”

“Next thing you know, we will finish each other’s sentences and read each other’s minds.” Smirking at the thought, Lance winked at Shiro. “Well, maybe not knowing all of each other’s thoughts.”

“Lance.” Smiling, but shaking his head no, Shiro laughed lightly. “Be careful what you wish for, you might get it someday.”

 

A noise coming from the panel woke Lance up. It was a warning indicator and instinctively Lance pressed buttons and rescued his lion from a nosedive. As his eyes fluttered open, he focused on his lion and his panel. Glancing down at his clothes, Lance realized he wore the Blue paladin outfit. 

Eyeing the readings on his dash, he mumbled to himself. “What the quiznits? This is what the panel said when I came out of the wormhole.” Navigating his lion to keep from crashing, Lance rubbed his right eye. “How am I the Blue paladin? Wait, was I ever the Red paladin?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the end of part 1.   
> After I watch season 2, I will start a new story. Hopefully, you enjoyed the story.  
> It was fun writing this. Please let me know good or bad, what you think.  
> I love to have an open discussion with other fans.
> 
> Also, if you have a request, I can try to write short stories with a few of the characters.

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fanfiction and I hope you enjoyed this story.  
> Sorry, but I found some mistakes and had to add a new chapter.


End file.
